Q&A with Dan Jensen: The Disservice of the “Devil’s Harvest” Campaign to First Responders and The Plant That’s Healing the World
The kids don’t understand.
Tough eras birth strong people. And a few years of relative peace has dulled our perception of a few things while ironically making us oversensitive to some ‘truths.’ Truths that are, in this case, hurting those strong people who fought, and are fighting, for the peace we enjoy today. And that’s just unfair.
In our weakness, we fear the worst so it’s natural that we ignore the duty we have to the veterans of war. Who are unfairly denied peace, even though the solution to their suffering has been proven entirely harmless time and again. The “Devil’s Harvest” campaign is just one of such a show of fearful ignorance. That shouldn’t be the banner for a generation that prides itself on knowing the facts.
And what do the facts say? In the course of the interview with Code 3 founder Dan Jensen, we learned that Canada had lost 30% fewer lives to opioid-related deaths since they legalized medicinal cannabis. That statistic streamlines this troubling issue to a few simple questions: Do we want our veterans to live longer? How else do PTSD-stricken vets obtain safe relief? Why keep a product so harmlessly proficient at providing relief on the fringes, based on something as baseless as a stigma?
Fortunately for us, it’s not too late. Dan Jensen certainly exuded the admirable passion that’ll be needed to get such a desirable return on home soil and abroad. So, let’s inspire ourselves with his answers to some questions you’ve probably wanted to ask him:
Who is Dan Jensen, and how did he get on the cannabis path?
Dan Jensen started The Code 3 Outreach in June 2020. Before that, he worked as an Emergency Medical Personnel and a firefighter for a good 12 years. While Dan stopped his role as an EMT, he sees the untainted value of firefighting and still does his job on the hose to the best of his ability. His journey towards cannabis began as he developed sleep issues in his younger years. He brushed off due to a tight daily schedule that included his job as a firefighter, EMT, and volunteering efforts.
As he made a career change into security, he became exposed to the truth behind the cannabis market through meetings with some professionals in the cannabis space. He honestly admits that, at first, he was only interested in improving the income structure of his company. But that will quickly change as he meets more people involved in the cannabis space. He started to have a retrospective discussion with himself, examining his PTSD struggles and the exciting possibilities that cannabis offered.
That reflection will lead him to get his medical card, and the positive transformations that came after he took up a steady regimen continue to stack up till today. Among those, he singles out that his productivity doubled, his sleep became restful. He lost heavy emotional burdens from years of dependency on sleep medication. And he ultimately invited to be the director of a cannabis advisory group that spoke out for veterans and first responders have PTSD. On that note, he created a platform that would exploit his networks and experience to educate people and help the community discover the limitless benefits of cannabis through the Code 3 outreach.
The Code 3 brand is popping up all over the place right now. What sparks the Code 3 vision, and where do you see the Code 3 brand in the long-term?
Dan Jensen begins by outlining what makes his initiative different to this question. He says:
“A lot of people are in this (the cannabis industry) for one reason, and one reason only – The ‘Good Good’(money)”
The cannabis industry, in the eyes of Dan, is a lot more than monetary benefits. It’s about helping people. Despite the apparent wealth that cannabis offers. He points out his visits to dispensaries as a factor in the birth of Code 3. Dan applauds the discounts provided to war veterans. Still, he thinks first responders, who “voluntarily run into burning buildings, and wake up at 2:30 AM when somebody got drunk and crashed their car…” should not be ignored in a battle that seeks a better life for everyone.
What’s the Code 3 approach to meeting these veterans and first responders?
Code 3 might just be starting with the local fire department in Ocean County, but it has lofty goals. Dan reveals that the ideal Code 3 proposition to vets and first responders in the future will be a unique account set-up that’ll ease donations to these veterans in counties across the country. These moves will augment the increasing contributions of dispensaries towards giving back to the community and hopefully correct the stigma surrounding cannabis.
How do dispensaries react to the Code 3 approach?
Dan walked into a local shop recently, and within three minutes, he had secured a partnership deal with its owner. For him, this is down to the irresistible charm of cannabis and its prospects. Something that’s only sweetened by the chance Code 3 gives partners to give back to the community and local charities.
Dan is under no illusions, though. He insists that he is still in the process of building a presence for himself. Something he had pointed out earlier in the interview as the core of getting good results in networking.
Any thoughts of expansion for the Code 3 brand?
“For anybody and everybody who wants to carry the Code 3 logo. We’ll be there,” Dan said, but the most crucial requirement is that. There should be a focus on the mission statement of Code 3. And that’s to “Help the people who have been helping us.”
What if it’s a CBD shop?
“Of Course,” Dan said. Although, as much as he’s willing to partner up with anybody, he’ll only partner up with people that share his passion for helping people. That cuts away the companies in the cannabis industry just for the money. Companies that take their greed to the extent that they sell sub-par quality cannabis products further ruin the hard-earned good reputation that cannabis has developed in recent years.
How does Code 3 feel about the impact of cannabis on veterans?
One of the biggest obstacles in the mission to support veterans is the alarming ignorance of the positive impact. That the medical cannabis process has on veterans and first responders. Dan cites the “Devil’s Harvest” campaign, as a joke at best, as a piece of the great disservice that a misguided. ‘War on Drugs’ has had on the lives of veterans. Veterans who are still offered opioids amongst other toxic substances that have nothing close to the safe healing effect of cannabis – a natural gift with endless physical, emotional, and mental benefits that have not been fully explored – to cope with their traumas.
Dan is buoyed by the idea that people investing today in building up. The cannabis industry will eventually become the inevitable cannabis empire’s foundations. Code 3 has undoubtedly played its role in the education required to change all the negative energy surrounding cannabis. And will continue to be open to reaching out to people, whether it’s for partnership opportunities, education, and tips on cannabis or just be there if people need someone to talk to – since that’s what Code 3 is all about – through the Code 3 outreach Gmail and Instagram accounts.
Dan also readily promised that Code 3 merchants would be on the tables at the soon-to-come 420NJevents. Which just proves the togetherness that cannabis is starting to get synonymous with. Much made of the human body’s endocannabinoid system, a system rendered redundant by the bans on its use. When it is capable of efficiently ridding our veterans, and many others in similar situations, of their pain.
Why we continue to uphold these mindsets even with common knowledge favoring cannabis use is food for thought. Until then, doing our hero's disfavors should be a theme that comes to an end. And just like Dan says, we all have a role to play for that to happen.