Does Pot Produce Better Parents?

While those who indulge in a little pot here and there will tell you, whether for medicinal reasons or to just get through a tough day, it is very likely that smoking pot will make you a better parent.  Now there is a New York Times Op-Ed which is suggesting the same.

In an op-ed entitled Pot for Parents, New York Times contributing writer Mark Wolfe questions whether the effects of marijuana help parents to provide their children with a type of attention that produces a more loving and close relationship.

Wolfe gives two examples of ways he related to his children before he became a medical marijuana patient and two ways he he related to them after.  He documented the following exchanges:

Child: Daddy, can you show me how to make a Q?

Father: (sipping bourbon and soda, not looking up from iPad) Just make a circle and put a little squiggle at the bottom.

Child: No, show me!

Father: Sweetie, not now, O.K.? Daddy’s tired.

After becoming a medical marijuana patient

Child: Daddy, can you show me how to make a Q?

Father: (getting down on the floor) Here, I’ll hold your hand while you hold the pen and we’ll make one together. There! We made a Q! Isn’t it fantastic?

Child: Thanks, Daddy!

Father: Don’t you just love the shape of this pen?

Or even better:

Child: Can I watch a video?

Father: Of course!

After:

Child: Can I watch a video?

Father: Why don’t we read a story and then pretend we’re in our own video! Go pick out a book, and I’ll go get the finger puppets.

Truth be told, Wolfe is tapping in to a sentiment being held by a larger and larger group of Americans who see pot as a meaningful form of relaxation and recreation in a fast paced and ultra-stressful world.  Unlike in some states where obtaining a prescription for medical marijuana requires a form of debilitating illness on par with cancer or multiple sclerosis, states like California and Colorado allow medical marijuana to be prescribed to ease conditions such as anxiety and depression.

Is it possible that having parents who are less stressed out and anxious could lead to a better relationship with one’s children?  Only time and medical study will tell.