Children of Marijuana Users Are Three Times More Likely to Use It Themselves

iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Are you a parent who smokes marijuana? 

Well, according to a new nationwide survey of young adults ages 18 to 25, children of parents who smoke weed are more than three times more likely to use it themselves.

The survey of 1,051 young adults was commissioned by the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation’s Center for Public Advocacy.

Among children who reported their moms and dads have used or currently use marijuana, 72 percent indicated they have used it as well. Conversely, 19.7 percent of children whose parents have never used marijuana reported having used marijuana themselves.

Among the youth who smoke weed, just over 15 percent said they started using it before the age of 14.  Almost 35 percent reported using it between ages 14 and 16, and 36.3 percent started using between ages 17 and 19.

Additional findings:

  • Among young adults overall -– both users and non-users — 40.2 percent think marijuana is not addictive and 36.3 percent think it is not damaging to the brain.
  • Close to 34 percent think edible marijuana is safer than smoking marijuana.
  • Among the respondents who indicated they have used marijuana, 33.1 percent said they have driven while high, while 35.1 percent reported they have been high at school.  Just over 23 percent said they have been high at work.
  • One in five young adults surveyed reported using marijuana daily. Nearly 10 percent use marijuana weekly and another 10 percent use marijuana monthly.
  • Despite the recent legalization of the sale of recreational marijuana in Colorado, young adult respondents in the state do not show much difference in marijuana use and attitudes: 48.7 percent of youth surveyed in Colorado admitted they have used marijuana compared to 40.7 percent in the rest of the country.


Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio

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