Overview:
This course provides a comprehensive presentation on marijuana, including medicinal marijuana and synthetic marijuana. Specifically, the potential effects of both natural and synthetic marijuana use on the brain, other body structures, and behavior are presented. Additionally, how marijuana use can lead to the development of problem use, known as a marijuana use disorder, and the treatment options that are available for persons struggling with this addiction are also discussed.
Objectives:
- Discuss why marijuana addiction is both brain disease and developmental disease.
- Identify some of the complex mechanisms that influence cannabis use disorder (CUD).
- Describe the brain’s role in CUD, specifically the brain’s reward system.
- Explain the effects of recreational, medicinal, and synthetic marijuana’s use on the brain, other body organs, and the user’s behavior.
- List some of the dangers associated with the use of synthetic marijuana.
Course materials are only available to enrolled students.
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Sean Knowles, MD
Sean Leonardo Knowles, MD is a physician at the Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre in the Department of Psychiatry in Nassau, Bahamas. He is currently working in the Substance Abuse wards. Dr. Knowles attended Temple Christian Schools during his primary and junior high school years and obtained his senior high school education from Saint Augustine’s College where he was his class valedictorian in 1994. He later earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology with minors in Chemistry and Spanish in 1998 from Saint John’s University in Minnesota as a Cum Laude graduate with All-College Honors and earning a Distinction in Biology. Dr. Knowles then obtained a Master of Science degree in Mathematics & Statistics from Youngstown State University in Ohio in 2005 and was awarded the Most Outstanding Graduate Student in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics Award. In 2013, he obtained his Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from the University of the West Indies and was presented The Dr. Mortimer Moxey Most Outstanding Performance in Community Medicine Award. Dr. Knowles was also the recipient of a 2016 British Chevening scholarship that afforded him the opportunity to complete a Master of Science Degree in Immunology of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in September 2017. His thesis is entitled "Understanding the Effects of Free Heme on Human Neutrophil Function." Presently, Dr. Knowles is a member of the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) and recently completed the University of Minnesota – Duluth and the North American Training Institute’s Studies in Gambling Addiction: Counseling the Pathological Gambler Certification course. In his spare time, Dr. Knowles enjoys weightlifting, kickboxing, traveling, watching thriller movies, public speaking, and mentoring young men. Dr. Knowles’ ultimate career goal is to utilize his psychiatry, clinical medicine, mathematics, and immunology of infectious disease training and experiences by serving the public health sector of The Bahamas as a physician, health policymaker, and educator. He also aspires to become a Minister of Health in The Bahamas someday.
Board Approvals
- ADACBGA #19-12-17-1212
- CSWMFT #50-29024
- FCB #5387-A
- FLORIDA MENTAL HEALTH
- OBLADC #20220136
- OCDP Board Provider #50-29024
- SCLLR #4610
- VA COMMERCIAL VENDOR # 81-3353387-01