Trends in cannabis use and cannabis use disorder among parents in the U.S., 2012-2024

Determine the prevalence and trends in cannabis use among U.S. parents of children < 18 years old. Cannabis use increasing among parents could be important because cannabis has been linked to parenting quality in cross-sectional studies.

Analyzed 2012-2024 data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) (N = 481,858), an annual survey of U.S. residents aged ≥ 12 years old. We estimated the prevalence of cannabis use outcomes in parents vs. non-parents and tested whether trends in cannabis use outcomes differed among parents (N = 169,926) vs. non-parents (N = 311,932).

In 2024, 8.0% of parents living with children used cannabis on the majority of days, 5.2% of parents used cannabis daily, and 6.7% of parents met DSM-5 criteria for CUD. Since 2012, daily cannabis use has increased a nearly identical amount in parents vs. non-parents. Four times as many parents used cannabis daily in 2024 vs. in 2012. The rate of CUD among parents has increased 1.5x since 2020 (when first measured). Significant increases have occurred in parents of almost all sociodemographic groups.

Daily cannabis use among parents went from quite rare in 2012 (1 in 80) to fairly common in 2024 (1 in 19). Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest ≥ 5.9 million children in the U.S. now live with a parent who uses cannabis on the majority of days. Determining how cannabis use affects parenting and offspring has thus become an important public health question.