Cannabis Reduces Need for Foster Care
My story today comes from the Daily Planet of Cannabis, otherwise known as Marijuana Moment, by their very own Jimmy Olsen whose true identity is Kyle Jaeger.
THE SCOOP
They say you can prove anything with statistics. Researchers at the University of Mississippi have made a connection between two things that, at first, seem very hard to connect, but when I thought about it for a second, the lightbulb went off, and I said, Of course!
“The researchers analyzed data from several sources to compare trends in foster care systems in states that have legalized cannabis, versus those in non-legal states."
THE DEEPER DIVE
“Legalizing cannabis for adult use is associated with at least a 10% decrease in foster care admissions on average, including reductions in placements due to physical abuse, neglect, parental incarceration and misuse of alcohol and other drugs.”
“Further, if cannabis were legalized nationally, it would result in hundreds of millions of dollars in estimated cost-savings for foster care systems every year.”
Too vague? Let’s read directly from the study:
“Based on earlier research that found a single foster care placement costs an average of $25,000 … nationwide cannabis legalization would “reduce the financial burden of the foster-care system by about $675 million, annually.”
A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon we’re talking real money...
The researchers surmised that part of the positive trend could be because relaxing cannabis laws means that fewer families get torn apart by law enforcement in states where adult use is not a crime.
And while that data point might be true, that situation only happens after the shit has hit the fan already and law enforcement is called in. Like when mom or dad has a bad day at the office and stops at the bar or the meth dealer on the way home.
What’s most important about the study, in my opinion, is what it says in clear language:
“We also find that after legalization of cannabis, placements due to physical abuse, parental neglect, parental incarceration and misuse of alcohol and other drugs decrease, providing evidence that legalization reduces substantive threats to child welfare…”
In other words, we have real University-vetted data that shows in a cannabis legal state, mom or dad can hit their bong instead of hitting the kids.
THE LOOP BACK
As you can tell, when I first read this headline, I thought it was a bit silly, but it’s actually profound.
Here’s more hard data that when cannabis is legalized and normalized, the kids are SAFER than when it’s not legal.
So, if anyone asks you “What about the children?”, just show them this data.
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Image source: Pexels, Photo by Greta Hoffman : https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-happy-family-9706190/
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