Parents Who Support Legalization of Marijuana Want Age Restrictions

For parents who are just as likely to be puffing the magic dragon as their teens, even they want some regulation on how young is too young to start toking.

An online survey that was done for the Partnership at Drugfree.org, a New York City-based non-profit organization formerly known as the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, shows that while an overwhelming majority of parents are in favor of legalizing marijuana, they want to put restrictions on how old you must be to use it. In fact, about 42 percent of adults surveyed favored legalizing marijuana for recreational use, 52 percent said it should be decriminalized and 70 percent supported legalizing marijuana for medical purposes.

About half of both mothers and fathers also said they had used marijuana, according to the survey. However, all parents seem to be certain about one thing--they didn't want marijuana being targeted to kids and teens.

The survey shows that about 90 percent of moms and 94 percent of dads said the legal age for marijuana use should be 21.

"The data bring to life the fact that parents have serious expectations that legal marijuana will be regulated and restricted to protect kids and teens," says Steve Pasierb, president and CEO of The Partnership at Drugfree.org, via USA Today. "Those expectations far exceed how legal marijuana is being implemented. So the fact remains, whether marijuana is legal or not, much more needs to be done to protect the health of our children."

The survey shows that 200 of the parents live in Colorado and 200 of them live in Washington, both states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use. The study had 1,603 adults adult participants, 1,200 of whom are parents of kids ages 10-19.