No, Parents Didn't Spend Child Tax Credit Money On Drugs, Study Finds

The child payments were discontinued amid concerns from some lawmakers, especially then-Sen. Joe Manchin, that parents spent the money on drugs.

WASHINGTON – Parents who received monthly child tax credit payments in 2021 didn’t spend the extra cash on drugs, according to a new study that contradicts a top talking point against the payments.

Researchers examined drug use trends among more than 40,000 parents and nonparents in survey data around the half-year period when the government sent all parents in the U.S. monthly payments for as much as $300 per child.

It turns out that not only did the parents not use the money to increase their drug use, they actually cut back on cigarettes, likely because the extra money made them less stressed.

“This evidence does not support policymaker concerns about increased parental substance use outweighing the substantial benefits of [advance child tax credit] monthly payments to low-income children and families,” the researchers, led by the University of Pittsburgh’s J. Travis Donahoe, wrote of their investigation.

Democrats launched the monthly payments in 2021 as part of their American Rescue Plan, the pandemic relief bill that also included a third round of stimulus checks. They intended to continue the recurring payments in a followup bill but couldn’t get agreement from then-Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat who later left the party and is no longer in Congress. (All Republicans opposed the legislation; it needed all Democrats on board in order to pass.)