Any person licensed under this chapter who renders counseling services to a minor for the treatment of problems associated with substance use is under no obligation to obtain the consent of that minor's parent or guardian or to inform that parent or guardian of that treatment. Nothing in this section may be construed so as to prohibit the licensed person rendering that treatment from informing that parent or guardian. For the purposes of this section, "substance use" means the use of drugs or alcohol solely for their stimulant, depressant or hallucinogenic effect upon the higher functions of the central nervous system and not as a therapeutic agent recommended by a practitioner in the course of medical treatment.   [PL 2017, c. 407, Pt. A, §139 (AMD).]