Does consuming cannabis make you a better parent? It can, say researchers.

A recently published study that looked into the question concluded that medical marijuana can increase parenting time by improving parents’ health as long as they don’t over do it.

"Marijuana can provide medical benefits for those suffering from chronic pain, sleep disorder, depression, and PTSD, allowing parents to better interact with their children," said Cynthia Bansak of the St. Lawrence University economics department and Jun Hyung Kim at South Korea's Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

Read Also: Weed For Parents: A Guide To A Night In With Mary Jane (Or How To Consume Cannabis While Keeping Your Kids Safe)

The study looked at the consequences of state-level medical marijuana legalization using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' American Time Use Survey (ATUS) between 2003 and 2019, reported Marijuana Moment's Ben Adlin.

Children under six could significantly benefit from the cannabis policy change and increased parenting time, as that age period is "characterized by high long-run returns to parental investment."

"The increases are significant on active childcare activities that require less effort of the parents such as playing with the child and on passive childcare in which parents watch over children while engaging in some other activity," found the researchers who also represent the Institute of Labor Economics in Bonn and Global Labor Organization in Germany. "Looking at heterogeneous effects, the effects are greater for those who are more likely to benefit from the medical use of marijuana and for subsamples with larger baseline parenting time, such as parents who have children younger than six."

Interestingly, an increase in parenting time is more evident in men than in women, following the legalization of medical marijuana.

US lawmakers have attempted to break the stigma around parental cannabis use. Officials in some states embrace their efforts and others opposed them.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore (D) signed a bill into law last year that protects legal cannabis-consuming parents from being charged with child neglect. 

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) vetoed a cannabis bill earlier this year that would protect parents and guardians from being accused of neglect or abuse solely based on cannabis possession or use. The legislation had reached Youngkin's desk with bipartisan support, which he could have signed or returned to lawmakers. But, he chose to veto it, citing that such a problem was "non-existent."

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