May 15, 2018
US: Should we be concerned with second-hand pot smoke, especially around children?
Is there such a thing as second-hand pot smoke? We know second-hand tobacco smoke is bad -- so bad that multiple public health interventions have led to decreased cigarette use overall. As cannabis use becomes more popular -- and legal in more states -- should we now be concerned with second-hand pot smoke, especially around children?
Researchers from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health have collected data on parents who have children under 18 years old living in the home, as well as information on tobacco and marijuana use in those groups between 2002 and 2015. They looked at pot and tobacco use among people of different incomes, races, education, and marital status. This data confirmed some of what we already knew: Tobacco use is declining, and cannabis use is on the rise.
The use of tobacco alone has decreased to 20.2 percent from 27.6 percent between 2002 to 2015, but daily pot smoking almost doubled in the same period, from 0.7 percent to 1.6 percent. While this may seem like a small rise, it means that there were, on average, 6 million children in the United States in 2015 living with a parent that smoked cannabis. Read more.