By Megan Conn, The Imprint, May 11, 2021
For generations of New York parents, smoking a joint on the stoop or tucking some weed into a pocket has always come with the risk of not only a criminal charge, but the threat of being reported to child protective services. People of color and families living in poverty have long been the overwhelming majority of those tested for marijuana use, arrested and reported to child welfare agencies.
But at the end of March, New York became the 16th state to legalize recreational cannabis for those ages 21 and older. Unlike most other states that previously enacted such laws, New York included specific language in the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act that challenges the assumption that use of the drug is, by itself, evidence of irresponsible parenting. The new law underscores a policy already in place statewide, but not always followed: Parents and guardians cannot be found to have maltreated children simply due to marijuana use, absent a separate finding of harm or risk of harm to children.
Raising the bar for state involvement is important because unnecessary child welfare investigations also hurt families, said Nila Natarajan, an attorney with Brooklyn Defender Services: “More often than not, the harm is the state involvement, and the invasiveness of an investigation and the temporary or long-term separation.”
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