In this episode of Vital Psychedelic Conversations, Kyle interviews Daniel McQueen, MA: psychedelic specialist, educator, and author of Psychedelic Cannabis: Therapeutic Methods and Unique Blends to Treat Trauma and Transform Consciousness. McQueen is the Executive Director of the Center for Medicinal Mindfulness in Boulder, CO, where he facilitates psychedelic sessions with cannabis and ketamine. 

This talk covers a lot but really hits home on a few very important topics: the clinical model’s limited perspective; the importance for psychedelic boards to self-organize before government agencies step in; and how cannabis can actually be as powerful a psychedelic as DMT. They mull over where the field of psychedelics is going and wonder: Who gets to do this work? And can psychedelics really fit within our current medical models? 

McQueen digs into the non-licensed approach to facilitation; the difference between coaching, counseling, and psychotherapy; and describes valuable harm reduction strategies, vital self-care practices for facilitators, and ways to navigate the (not talked about enough) transformational process of being a guide for others. If you experience anxiety or paranoia from cannabis, you’ll learn how Nano CBD can shut it down almost instantaneously. Last but certainly not least, McQueen shares all about the transformative work and trainings he and his colleagues are doing at both the Center for Medicinal Mindfulness and Psychedelic Sitters School. 

Notable Quotes

“We’ve got to have our boards, we’ve got to become members of those boards, and we’ve got to self-organize and regulate. Otherwise, the government agencies are going to do it for us. It’s going to become super clinical, super medical. It’s going to limit the scope to only people who are really suffering and I think that’s a trap.”

“I’m thinking [cannabis is] probably one of the best psychedelics for trauma resolution work and other things. So I’m way past ‘Is this psychedelic?’ I’m stepping into: ‘This might be one of the best medicines for psychedelic therapy and guiding that we have available.’” 

“I just was intuitively drawn from the beginning to do blends – to blend multiple strains [of cannabis] together – and I started to experiment on my friends. …One of my friends …sat up and said, ‘Daniel, if I didn’t trust you, I would swear you put DMT in that.’ And I hadn’t, it was just pot. And that was the moment. I’m like, ‘Okay, maybe there’s something to this.’”

“Sometimes these stories that we hear are the hardest stories to hear from another human being. So there’s an emotional impact to process. I’ve had to really evaluate my existential understanding of reality because of this job, so there’s that whole thing too. It’s not the same as psychotherapy, it’s just not. Professionally speaking, I tell people it’s more like being an emergency medicine doctor. You’ve got to take time off. Self-care is vital.”

Links

Medicinalmindfulness.org

Psychedelicsittersschool.org

Psychedelics Today: Daniel McQueen – DMTx and Future Psychedelic Technologies

Psychedelics Today: Daniel McQueen – Extended-State DMT Research (DMTx)

Psychedelics Today: Daniel McQueen – Medicinal Mindfulness & Conscious Cannabis Circles

Psychedeliceducationcenter.com: DMTx Psychonaut Training Webinar

Naropa.edu: Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies Certificate

Thepsychedelicassociation.org

Psychedelic Cannabis: Therapeutic Methods and Unique Blends to Treat Trauma and Transform Consciousness, by Daniel McQueen

Cannabisanimus.com: Nano CBD 

Dr. Michael Harner: The Foundation for Shamanic Studies

About Daniel McQueen, MA

Daniel McQueen, MA, is a psychedelic specialist, educator, and author of the book, Psychedelic Cannabis: Therapeutic Methods and Unique Blends to Treat Trauma and Transform Consciousness. In 2012, he co-founded one of the first legal psychedelic plant medicine therapy clinics in the United States, the Center for Medicinal Mindfulness, which is located in Boulder, Colorado, and is currently celebrating its 10-year anniversary. The same year, Daniel also founded Psychedelic Sitters School, which continues to train students from around the world in mindfulness-based psychedelic therapy and cannabis-assisted psychedelic therapy.

Socials: Instagram / Twitter / Facebook

Support the show!

• Patreon
• Leave us a review on Facebook or iTunes
• Share us with your friends
• Join our Facebook group – Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community.

Navigating Psychedelics