Weed-smoking parents are reportedly harsher disciplinarians

PanARMENIAN.Net - In an age of new cannabis laws, advancing research and rapidly changing attitudes, the rise of the parent who uses marijuana has almost become a promised statistical outcome. Parenting is far from an easy journey, and many have been quite open about turning to the occasional joint to remain mellow through it all, to manage the day’s lurching and unpredictable anxieties.

But, a new study of California parents has found that parents who use marijuana are not exactly “chill” — in fact, they might be more likely to discipline their kids than parents who are non-users, The Huffington Post reports.

Bridget Freisthler, co-author of the study in question, told Science Daily that the mounting accessibility of marijuana usage means parents might feel more inclined to use it — in some cases, in front of their kids. “Some parents claim it makes them a better, more relaxed parent,” Freisthler says, “but that may not be the case.”

“May not” leaves some room for interpretation, but some of Freisthler’s other observations do not. The study, which was published this week in the Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, also found that marijuana users — 92 per cent of whom, it should be noted, were also alcohol users — were more likely to control their kids than non-users, using non-violent methods, corporal punishment or physical abuse. They may also be quicker to react to small misbehaviours.

“We can’t tell from this study, but it may be that parents who use marijuana or alcohol don’t want their children to spoil the buzz they have, or bother them when they have a hangover,” Freisthler said.

Note the careful preamble: “We can’t tell from this study.” This statement is more of an educated inference than a solid finding. The study specifically examined more than 3,000 California parents of children 12 years old or younger.

The interviews with these parents were also conducted way back in 2009, and it could be argued that much has changed in the last decade.