Legalizing Cannabis: Implications for Child Maltreatment

Cannabis is the most used illicit drug in the United States. Though cannabis possession and consumption are prohibited federally, states are increasingly implementing laws that legalize this substance, initially for medical use and, more recently, for recreational use. We study the impact of recreational cannabis laws (RCLs) that allow all adults 21 years and older to legally consume and possess this substance on reports of child maltreatment and post-investigation service use. To do so, we combine difference-in-differences methods with administrative data on child maltreatment reports 2010-2022. Overall, we find no evidence that child maltreatment reports or service use are influenced by RCL adoption, though we find that physical abuse reports decline. Our findings indicate that recent efforts to legalize cannabis for recreational consumption have not led to an increase in child maltreatment reports.