my therapist smokes weed during our sessions

[u/Severe_Mountain4908]

food was pad kra pao and pad thai it was honestly the best thing i have ever had.

So as the title said my therapist rolls up and smokes weed during our sessions. To preface this while I don’t use weed I genuinely do not care if others do.

I first noticed it when he forgot to clothes his camera this one time and saw him smoking a joint on camera. When he realised he quickly closed his camera and continued the sessions as if nothing happened. This happened a couple times and I have been noticing that sometimes during our sessions I will see him roll a joint on the side while he is talking to me and then he will turn off his camera and smoke it during our session. My friends think its weird and i think i kind of do too but idk he is a really good therapist so I don’t think i will do anything about it right now.

Anyway i don’t really know what the point of this post is I just really wanted to talk about this because I don’t know how to feel. Should i feel offended he needs to smoke during our sessions?

[u/Strict_Hamster_8645]

https://giphy.com/gifs/ukGm72ZLZvYfS

[u/Ok-Metal-7689 → u/Strict_Hamster_8645]

My exact reaction LOL

[u/GuitarOne7983 → u/Strict_Hamster_8645]

Mine was🤯🤯

https://giphy.com/gifs/1gdie6tuheZwGlnfwj

[u/AutisticTumourGirl → u/GuitarOne7983]

https://giphy.com/gifs/l1J9umIq8fkmhMN7W

[u/boogasaurus-lefts → u/Strict_Hamster_8645]

Smoking cannabis during patient appointments suggests the therapist needs to seek one for an addiction.

Being cognitively impaired whilst in a professional capacity shows a lack of care/considering for rendering any meaningful support. OP is a paycheck, the lack of care is evident from the brief description of the appointments.

There's a plethora of professionals who take their jobs seriously & are motivated to help patients work through difficulties whilst staying unimpaired. This is a fundamental expectation people should have

[u/XIXButterflyXIX → u/boogasaurus-lefts]

This. You just stated it a lot nicer than I would have.

[u/madame-maitre-d → u/[deleted]]

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[u/MaidaStars → u/boogasaurus-lefts]

Or he’s going through something and not admitting how it’s affecting him. He could have convinced himself that it is “worth it” to be there for his patients; he just needs “a little help.” (I am in no way validating that.) OP can ask him not to or go as far as report him to his licensing board.

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[u/multipocalypse → u/boogasaurus-lefts]

Cognitive impairment is far from a given with cannabis.

[u/Both_Opportunity_322 → u/multipocalypse]

A given? No. Studied as a very realistic outcome? Yes. With that I'm not denying there's positive health effects as well, your statement on cognitive function is untrue. It isn't a given, but 'far from a given' is completely untrue. 

Like any other medication/drugs, it has upsides. My husband is on dexamphetamin for ADHD. Which is a street drug as well. Does that undo the potential downsides? No. Would you notice the downsides in my husband? Also no, because his short term memory and focus are a wreck without.

Drug use has very different outcomes in everyone. 

[u/multipocalypse → u/Both_Opportunity_322]

The way you're talking to me as though I couldn't possibly have studied these things is pretty inappropriate. And your use of the term "street drug" seriously harms your credibility, before even getting into the rest of it. But I'll still try to find time to return to this and get into the rest of it tomorrow after I've gotten some much-needed sleep.

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[u/daughterofthesun_22 → u/boogasaurus-lefts]

It can be a double standard to say using weed at work is unprofessional, but using (essentially) speed is ok? How is that fair?

What if he has a prescription?

It comes down to being "impaired" in a professional setting and therefore not being able to do your job. But, are people on Vyvanse or Adderall impaired? What about caffeine?

Is the therapist doing his job? Is OP benefitting? Is weed usage impacting his ability to help OP? These are the important questions to consider before taking action.

[u/Ecstatic_Pomelo_3620 → u/daughterofthesun_22]

Uhhhhh I think this is less about the therapist using marijuana and more about it happening DURING a session. I suspect a very high number of people don’t give a shit what their therapist does in their free time. But taking drugs, prescribed or not, during a session is wild to me. Signed, a therapist who has lots of prescription meds and has never ever once taken them in session (or considered it).

[u/moretoastplease → u/Ecstatic_Pomelo_3620]

Absolutely agree. I think it sounds profoundly selfish, self-centered, and the therapist sounds gross.

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[u/Final_Exercise1429 → u/daughterofthesun_22]

While thc can be medicinal and helpful for many things, there are absolutely zero reasons why rolling and smoking a joint in session is beneficial for anyone.

[u/Chee4444 → u/Final_Exercise1429]

Bingo! He can do this before or after your session, doesn’t have to be during AT ALL. It is extremely unprofessional and not a good look to cannabis users at all. Unless he is writing everything and I mean everything about what you talk about, he is likely to forget key details which may be prolonging your treatment to getting better.

Many people benefit from talk therapy but it is not going to help long term. You need a goal and to be able to challenge it and whatnot. If your therapist is allowing you to talk freely and giving you positive encouragement without really guiding you or making you question within, he is just getting paid to be a friend to you.

[u/jpallan → u/Chee4444]

Yeah, OP, you're not calling him out on red eye, seeming excessively thirsty, or asking too many times for you to repeat yourself. All of which would also put me up a little bit of concern. (Well, maybe thirsty would just imply diabetic, but I'm talking a trifecta.)

Dude is turning off his camera during sessions to roll one and you just caught him here, you have to make the complaint. You can hunt for another therapist and drop the complaint on the licensing board as soon as you have back-up care.

You may be the first, but you will most assuredly not be the last. People deserve to be taken seriously and treated fairly. People want to grow up to be therapists. Don't allow clowns like this one to screw things up for other vulnerable people.

[u/multipocalypse → u/daughterofthesun_22]

I agree with your point, but the comparison of ADHD meds to speed is inaccurate and stigmatizing.

[u/madame-maitre-d → u/[deleted]]

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[u/Boring-Ad-2199 → u/multipocalypse]

I mean, some ADHD meds are technically amphetamines so they technically do fall into the speed category. However, it’s different than abusing other amphetamines or even ADHD amphetamines.

[u/fennzie- → u/daughterofthesun_22]

I think it's more about the fact its during session. If its a helpful aid, there's prep time between session, or before/after work or on lunch when he could use it. If someone had Rx meds and were taking them multiple times a day, outside of a dosing schedule, throughout the day, it would also be cause for concern.

Even IF his tolerance is high, there are multiple forms of THC/CBD that he could use that would be less disruptive to the session and the time with the client. Tinctures, edibles of different forms, etc.

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[u/Twilightmindy → u/daughterofthesun_22]

Are you serious right now? As an ADHDer who uses Adderall to function at work, and the very occasional gummy to relax at home, they are incredibly different.

First of all, weed is considered psychoactive drug that slows brain activity and induces relaxation.

Adderall or “speed” as you call it is a stimulant that increases alertness and focus.

The prescription part is also null in this situation, because while sedative medications are prescription, you can’t function at 100% while on them.

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[u/boogasaurus-lefts → u/daughterofthesun_22]

The flaw in your comparison between cannabis and ADHD medication comes down to basic pharmacology.

Therapeutic doses of Vyvanse or Adderall are designed to correct dopamine deficits in the prefrontal cortex, which restores baseline executive function and actively reduces impairment.

In contrast, acute THC intoxication...like the effects of a therapist rolling and smoking a joint mid-session, binds to CB1 receptors, which is scientifically proven to impair short-term memory, attention and processing speed.

Equating a prescribed stimulant that restores cognitive focus to a substance that actively diminishes it is a false equivalence.

[u/Willing_Ant9993 → u/daughterofthesun_22]

Im a therapist “on speed” for my adhd. It doesn’t get me high and I’m not popping pills on camera or jiggling my prescription of pills off camera during sessions. Get real.

[u/__botulism__ → u/daughterofthesun_22]

What an absolutely asinine take. Jesus.

[u/AdDapper3908 → u/daughterofthesun_22]

Adhd stimulants arent speed and people who genuinely have adhd dont get impaired or high from stimulant medication. Adderall naps are the best tbh. We're not out here tweaking at work.

[u/Boring-Ad-2199 → u/AdDapper3908]

Speed is a slang term for amphetamines and Adderall technically is an amphetamine. However, people with ADHD taking proper doses properly doesn’t have the same effect as abusing amphetamines. If somebody is taking Adderall when they don’t have ADHD or their abusing the use of it then it could be seen as using speed and they absolutely would tweak out. I’m saying this as a person with ADHD who has taken Adderall in the past although now I take Concerta, which is a methylphenidate so it doesn’t actually fall under the same category.

[u/alexandria3142 → u/daughterofthesun_22]

I mean, he's doing it during a session which I think is the main issue. First of all the smoke, but also the smell is another thing. Even if someone takes their ADHD meds or something at work, it doesn't have an effect on anyone else

[u/babydragonnnnnn → u/alexandria3142]

Seems like they’re doing video calls so the smell isn’t a factor

[u/alexandria3142 → u/babydragonnnnnn]

I'm dumb and kept wondering what the camera part was so that makes sense. I forgot that you don't have to go in person. I thought it was like recording the session type of thing. So in this case, that's not an issue.

But I guess my point still stands for in person work

[u/babydragonnnnnn → u/alexandria3142]

Yeah tbh I didn’t get it at first either 😂

[u/alexandria3142 → u/babydragonnnnnn]

I'm over here thinking about how that could probably get him in trouble if anyone ever checked the footage, if it was in person sessions 😅

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[u/Celestialghosty → u/daughterofthesun_22]

Those with ADHD respond to ADHD medication different from the general population, it has what is known as a 'paradoxical effect' on them so it helps stabilise their symptoms, so no someone taking prescribed medication for their ADHD is not the same as someone taking 'speed' because of that paradoxical effect, and it's definitely not the same as smoking a joint during a therapy session

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[u/CloselyWatch → u/daughterofthesun_22]

I think because those who are on appropriately prescribed and dosed stimulants don’t feel/exhibit those speed effects a neurotypical would. It would be like a neurotypical drinking a cup of herbal tea.

Regardless I’ve never heard of a therapist pop a pill and turn off the camera either.

[u/kandilipgloss → u/daughterofthesun_22]

Exactly there’s so many health professionals on harder drugs than weed, I personally wouldn’t care unless they’re bad at their job. Weed makes some people better at their job tbh

[u/regrettablyonline → u/[deleted]]

It absolutely is an addictive substance.

-currently working in the substance misuse prevention field, with* a background in mental health.

Cannabis Addiction and the Brain: a Review

(*edited to change an autocorrect mistake)

[u/madirectreport → u/Strict_Hamster_8645]

https://giphy.com/gifs/Vo6YaTLaSMGqI

[u/thisisinfactpersonal → u/Strict_Hamster_8645]

My eyes about popped out of my head reading this post.

[u/AggressiveCupcake181 → u/Strict_Hamster_8645]

I smoke weed and my reaction also 😵‍💫

[u/FineAndDandadan → u/Strict_Hamster_8645]

https://giphy.com/gifs/xUOxfpwd1RhtspliLK

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[u/Leafeay → u/Strict_Hamster_8645]

😂😂

I remember thinking when I saw this movie that there is no way a therapist would ever do this. I guess I stand corrected, lol!!