Medical Marijuana Dispensaries and Referrals for Child Maltreatment Investigations

Abstract

The changing legal status of marijuana in the United States has increased access to the drug through medical marijuana dispensaries. Limited research exists that examines the effects of these dispensaries on social problems including child maltreatment. The current study examines how medical marijuana dispensaries may affect referrals for child abuse and neglect investigations. Data are analyzed from 2,342 Census tracts in Los Angeles County, California. Locations of medical marijuana dispensaries were obtained through Weedmaps.com . Using conditionally autoregressive models, local and spatially lagged dispensaries show a positive relationship to rates of referrals in the unadjusted models. However, when we adjust for alcohol outlet density and measures of social disorganization, this relationship is no longer significant. Although this study does not find a relationship between medical marijuana dispensaries and referrals for investigations of child maltreatment, it should not be considered a definitive finding of this relationship. The increasing number of states that are allowing marijuana to be used for medical and recreational purposes is resulting in more people using the drug and the effects on parenting are still unknown.

Contrasting Methods of Measurement in Spatial Analyses Examining the Alcohol Environment and Child Maltreatment

“…We found that while alcohol outlet density and percent of the population in poverty both had a small effect on the outcome of child abuse, the measure of racial-ethnic diversity (Blau’s Index) was associated with about a four-fold increase of risk of child abuse substantiations. This echoes the findings of Klein and Merritt (2014), who found that neighborhood heterogeneity (as measured by the Blau’s Index) was a stable predictor of child maltreatment referrals across all subgroups studied (Klein & Merritt, 2014), a phenomenon that Freisthler and Kranich (2020) also found to exist in a similar study in Los Angeles (Freisthler & Kranich, 2020). To examine the effects of segregation on child maltreatment substantiations in Los Angeles over time, Barboza (2019) also included a diversity measure—the Black–White (B–W) interaction index—in examining the effects of environmental factors using Bayesian hierarchical spatial regression models.…”

“…Numerous studies have also considered the built environment as containing potential accelerants to the manifestation of child abuse. Specifically, child physical abuse was positively associated with measures of neighborhood density of off-premise alcohol locations (Freisthler et al, 2004(Freisthler et al, , 2007Freisthler & Kranich, 2020) and medical marijuana dispensaries (Freisthler et al, 2015). The built environment has been found to have deceleration factors as well, with lower rates of child maltreatment found proximal to mental health and substance abuse services (Maguire-Jack & Klein, 2015) and licensed day care facilities (Klein, 2011), as well as a moderating effect of substance abuse services density on the positive relationship between alcohol availability and child maltreatment (Morton, 2013).…”

“…As proximity to alcohol outlets have been consistently associated with child physical abuse in research examining built environment factors (Freisthler et al, 2004(Freisthler et al, , 2007Freisthler & Kranich, 2020), our main factor of interest was the availability of alcohol to parents. To represent this factor, we geocoded all alcohol vendors in operation in 2015, using data obtained from the California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC).…”

Parenting through the lenses of risk and othering: Constructions of parental cannabis use in child protection court proceedings

“…We found only two studies not based on parents' self‐reports. The first (Freisthler & Kranich, 2022) found no association between the geographical availability of cannabis and rates of child protection referrals. The second (Donohue et al, 2019) found a positive association between cannabis use and the risk of CAN.…”

Neighborhood market potentials for alcohol use and rates of child abuse and neglect

“…Greater alcohol supply, as reflected in greater alcohol outlet densities or lower taxes on alcoholic beverages, appears to increase child abuse and neglect in the United States (Freisthler, 2004; Freisthler et al, 2007; Freisthler & Kranich, 2022; Markowitz et al, 2010, 2014; Markowitz & Grossman, 1998, 2000; Morton et al, 2014; Sen, 2006). More specifically, density of bars is related to higher rates of substantiated reports of child abuse and neglect (Freisthler, 2004) and entries into foster care (Freisthler et al, 2007).…”