Free professional micro-course
Cannabis awareness for frontline practice
Drug and alcohol workers, mental-health and NHS staff, youth and safeguarding professionals, education, housing, justice, peer and family-support workers.
No registration. Progress and quiz scores stay on this device where browser storage is available.
Learning outcomes
By the end, you should be able to:
- 1Distinguish common cannabis forms and routes while recognising that appearance does not establish potency.
- 2Explain the endocannabinoid system and the different roles of THC and CBD at a practice-relevant level.
- 3Recognise cannabis use disorder and common withdrawal symptoms without minimising them.
- 4Discuss mental-health vulnerability, psychosis, young people and medicinal cannabis proportionately.
- 5Differentiate cannabis from synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists and describe core UK legal and harm-reduction considerations.
What this course covers
Six short learning stages
- 01Forms, routes and potency
Cannabis products vary widely in cannabinoid content and route. Visual appearance does not tell you the THC concentration, CBD content or what else may be present.
- 02THC, CBD and the endocannabinoid system
The endocannabinoid system helps regulate signalling involved in memory, stress, appetite, pain and other functions. Plant cannabinoids interact with that system in different ways.
- 03Tolerance, cannabis use disorder and withdrawal
Cannabis dependence and withdrawal are clinically recognised. Dismissing them can damage engagement and leave a major driver of relapse unaddressed.
- 04Mental health, young people and medicinal cannabis
Cannabis can intersect with mental health in different ways. High-THC exposure, frequent use and individual vulnerability are especially relevant when assessing psychosis risk.
- 05Harm reduction, treatment and UK legal context
A useful response separates product, route and purpose, then supports safer choices, treatment goals and accurate legal information.
- 06Apply it to practice
Use timing, mental state, product pattern and context to avoid two common errors: minimising cannabis withdrawal and attributing every mental-health symptom to cannabis.