Legal Marijuana Issues and Solutions

Colorado human service workers are grappling with the issue of legal marijuana. Agencies which are supposed to help their clients to clean up are now dealing with a substance that is illegal at the federal level, legal for anyone over 21 in Colorado and actually prescribed for certain medical conditions. It is also increasingly socially acceptable. How can human service workers appropriately handle this issue with their clients? What are the scientific, legal and societal facts that workers need to take into account?

The panelists will present their views on the subject and answer questions from participants. 

Presenters: 

Dr. Christian Thurstone, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado. Dr. Thurstone is one of fewer than three dozen physicians in the United States who are board certified in general, child and adolescent and addictions psychiatry. He is medical director of one of Colorado’s largest youth substance-abuse-treatment clinics and an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado Denver, where he conducts research on youth substance use and addiction. He currently serves as president of the Colorado Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Society.

Jeffrey S. Gard, Esq. is a Colorado native and a Cum Laude Philosophy graduate from the University of Colorado. While attending the CU Law School, Jeff won the William De Souchet Award for best individual performance in trial advocacy. After graduation, Jeff accepted a position with Sanderson & Associates (later Sanderson & Gard), a respected litigation firm in Boulder, Colorado. Jeff later formed his own firm in downtown Boulder. He is dedicated to helping patients, doctors, caregivers and dispensaries comply with the Colorado Medical Marijuana Amendment. 

Sgt. Jim Gerhardt of the North Metro Drug Task Force has 24 years of law enforcement experience with the Thornton Police Department. He is currently assigned to the North Metro Drug Task Force in the Denver area. Jim has worked undercover drug enforcement investigations since 1992. Jim serves as the Legislative Liaison for the Colorado Drug Investigators Association and worked as the Project Coordinator on a study regarding the environmental impact of indoor marijuana growing operations. Jim was a founding member of the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children (DEC), and the Colorado DEC. He has worked for the past 7 years as a contract employee for the Criminal Justice Institute implementing the Arkansas DEC initiative.

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As with all our events there will be time for sharing and networking among the participants.

Eligible for 3 hours CEU

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