Medical marijuana legalization and parenting behaviors: An analysis of the time use of parents

Can access to medical marijuana improve parenting? We examine the consequences of state-level medical marijuana legalization (MML) on parents' time use. Medical marijuana may increase parenting time by improving parents' health but only if parents do not abuse marijuana. We find that MML increases parenting time, with bigger impacts for those less likely to abuse marijuana. The effects correspond to 12.56% of the gap in active childcare and 8.92% of the gap in passive childcare by parents' education level. MML also reduces inactive time and increases sleep, consistent with medical marijuana's health benefits.