Marijuana Legalization in Washington State: Parents' Attitudes and Concerns about Risks to Their Children

Introduction: Parents in Washington State face new challenges as a result of the recreational marijuana legislation that was passed in 2012. The goal of the study presented is to learn from parents their perceptions of what has changed in their children’s environment and changes in their parenting since legalization. We examine parents’ concerns related to the new law including attitudes about legal marijuana use in front of children.

Methods: We conducted six focus groups with parents of youth ages 8 to 15. Parents were recruited from the Seattle Social Development Project, a multi-ethnic, longitudinal panel study that originated in Seattle in 1985. All 54 participants were aged 39 and lived in the greater Seattle area. Overall, participants were 65% female, 31% Caucasian, 30% African American, 18% Asian American, and 5% Native American. For two of the groups, we recruited participants who had reported using marijuana during the past year; four groups were composed of parents who reported no use in the past year. A structured interview protocol was used to ask parents about how the new law has impacted their children’s environments and their exposure to marijuana. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic content analysis with NVivo software.

Results: The qualitative data indicated that parents are concerned about the many ways their children are being exposed to marijuana. Examples include exposure through the media, by open public use, in the homes of their children’s friends, and through the presence of marijuana in schools. Results also indicate that – after years of an unregulated medical marijuana market in Washington state – confusion exists about the different laws that pertain to medical versus recreational use. Generally, parents report additional parenting challenges and a sense of disempowerment as a result of the law and an increase in their children’s exposure. The experiences of parents varied greatly by the age of their children and by their own marijuana use.

Conclusions: Assessing the experiences of parents in focus groups can provide important insights of value to policy makers as well as to preventive intervention developers. Results from this study suggest that, first, it is important to address medical and recreational marijuana laws together in order to decrease public confusion. Second, prevention efforts and public health messaging would benefit parents if started before legalization takes effect. Third, preventive intervention development should seek to incorporate (a) clear facts about the marijuana laws, (b) parenting strategies for use when children are exposed to marijuana, and (c) other tools and skills to proactively empower parents to protect their children in a changing marijuana environment.