Beyond the Bud: Ethics of Treating Frequent Users of Legal Marijuana

Date course created: August 2024

Counseling clients who regularly use legal marijuana for both medicinal and recreational purposes is a nuanced and evolving area of practice, especially considering the changing cultural landscape around marijuana in various regions. Legalized marijuana has added ethical and legal complexities to an already challenging landscape of substance use disorder (SUD) and integrated dual diagnoses treatment (IDDT). In addition to the increasing importance of knowing the laws in your area of practice, the marijuana landscape presents new important considerations in both practice models and clinician subjective world view regarding clients who habitually use legal marijuana. Abstinence versus harm reduction and values bracketing is at the forefront of treatment considerations for clients habitually using marijuana – now legalized, decriminalized, and often enjoyed medicinally. Biases around marijuana use and its legality, in many cases, are at the heart of client distress in their relationships, employment, and educational achievement. Related legal conflicts is another ethical challenge to consider in treating this population (despite the legality of a substance at the state level).

How do clinicians with a bias against legal marijuana recognize and address the clinical concerns around a client’s heavy use while still upholding their ethical obligation to preserve client autonomy and honor the ethical principles of beneficence and non-maleficence?

Please join us to increase your knowledge and insight related to treating clients who habitually use legal marijuana. Jodi Geis-Crowder will draw on 26 years of experience in clinical mental health to increase your knowledge of how the landscape of SUD and IDDT has drastically changed with the legal recreational and medicinal use of marijuana. Jodi will explore mandatory disclosure, monitoring, and ethical practice toward providing the best client care without alienating clients or jeopardizing the therapeutic alliance. Learn and understand how your biases may impact treatment, and protect your credentials both from an ethical and legal perspective.

In addition to the below Objectives, this webinar training includes the following highlights:

1. A general ethics review to inform attendees of the importance of keeping ethics at the forefront of their practice while meeting requirements for most state licensing boards.
2. An opportunity to create an ethical decision-making model.
3. An opportunity to apply knowledge gained in the course to a clinical case example.
4. Ability to identify at least two reasons why collaborating with a professional team, that includes clinical, legal, and medical consultation, is crucial to navigating the increased complexities that legal marijuana adds to SUD and IDDT.

**This is a 1.75-CE noninteractive, self-paced online video course delivered in home study format via an industry-standard online learning platform**

Agenda:

0:00 – 0:30 – Brief overview of objectives and ethics.

0:30 – 1:00 – Tools to assess substance use disorder, specifically marijuana, clinical approaches to treat SUD, definition of integrated dual diagnosed treatment (IDDT), and comparison of harm reduction versus abstinence models.

1:00 – 2:00 – Ethical decision-making models, managing the dance of working with clients that continue to use legal marijuana and keeping biases in check, understanding the need to treat these clients with a team of other professionals: medical and legal, and applying the knowledge to a case.

Objectives:

This training will provide participants clinical knowledge and tools to:

Target Audience:

The target audience for this course includes licensed psychologists, social workers, counselors, MFT’s, and other licensed clinical mental health professionals.

Instructional Level: Intermediate

Instructor(s): Jodi Ann Geis-Crowder, MS, LPC, ACS

Material Author(s): Jodi Ann Geis-Crowder, MS, LPC, ACS  

Jodi Geis-Crowder is a dedicated professional with 27 years of experience in ensuring access to quality behavioral health care and substance use disorder services in rural areas of Northeast Colorado and Wyoming. She holds an Associate Degree in Education, a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences, and a Master’s Degree in Counselor Education with an emphasis in Leadership from institutions in Wyoming. Jodi also holds professional counseling licenses in Colorado and Wyoming and is an Approved Clinical Supervisor through the Center for Credentialing and Education, recognized by the National Board of Certified Counselors. Jodi pioneered animal- assisted therapy and therapeutic horticulture programs at Centennial Mental Health Center and Peak Wellness Center, reflecting her commitment to culturally meaningful care in rural settings. She has held various leadership roles, including clinical supervisor and regional clinical director, and has expertise in Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), telehealth supervision, and telehealth service delivery. Jodi currently serves as a clinical supervisor and professional trainer for Volunteers of America Northern Rockies. Jodi also offers webinars, professional training consultation, and professional speaking through JGC Enterprises, LLC, focusing on Ethics, Solution Focused Brief Therapy, Clinical Supervision, Telehealth, Trauma Informed Care, and the Human/Animal Bond. Passionate about art, Jodi is a professional watercolor artist and photographer, selling her work in Wyoming boutiques as a member of the Sagebrush Artisans.

“I am grateful and humbled by the opportunities I have to mentor and nurture professionals on their journey. I am passionate about behavioral health care and ensuring service delivery for some of the most vulnerable in our society. My goal is to focus on solutions, hope, gratitude, identifying and instilling resilience, and finding glimmers in daily lives to facilitate positive change, individually and organizationally.”

For additional information about this course, the instructors, or the material authors, please contact Content Assistance at content@onlinececredits.com.

Course Materials & Delivery Method:

• Course materials – The course is composed of a recorded presentation and written materials (e.g. a slide deck and/or other worksheets, manuals, or handouts as provided by the instructor). The slide deck and any additional worksheets or handouts (as provided by the instructor) are made available inside the Lesson module after a course is purchased.
• Delivery Method – this course is a recorded asynchronous, self-paced webinar training, and there is no access time limit or due date to complete it once enrolled. The enrolled learner will stream the recorded presentation and view the materials from their internet connected device via an industry-standard online learning platform.

CE Approvals:

Online CE Credits has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6795. Programs that do not quality for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Online CE Credits is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

Mind Works Professional Education, Inc. DBA Online CE Credits, #1974, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: July 23, 2024 – July 23, 2025. Social workers completing this course receive [see advertisement] asynchronous distance learning continuing education credits.

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