TEAM UP TO ELIMINATE CANNABIS TESTING IN THE NFL - IT’S TIME TO PUT PLAYERS OVER PROFITS

AUTHOR: JESSICA SERRANO PHOTOS COURTESY OF:

DEREK DURONSLET, COO OF REVENANT

A Leader, And A Fighter. Destination: Journey

“It Doesn’t Matter Where You Come From, What Matters Is Where You’re Going.”

ClubCorp: a 60 year old company and leader in the private club world who was seeking guidance to build infrastructure. “The biggest success was how they navigated through covid. 2020 was tracking towards a record sales year. Then the pandemic hit. We went from having more than $100 million on the books to wondering how we were going to survive, and feed our employees. I had a year to do nothing but invest in people, and it changed me. I was a leader turned protector. We shifted from sales to retention. We had to contact everyone that had plans at ClubCorp, knowing we could lose millions of dollars. We took an approach of empathy and humanity, and in taking that approach, retained more customers than we could have ever anticipated, and came out of 2021, beating 2019’s record sales numbers.”

- Derek Duronlet

Born in SoCal, Derek spent his days in high school, like many, dreaming of becoming a professional athlete. Disenchanted with the college recruitment process, he went on to the military at only 18 and became a firefighter in the United States Air Force. Derek was stationed in England and traveling through Europe, growing up far from home, and trying to define himself in a system built to follow command. Quickly realizing that the only way to separate himself from the rest was to outwork them, he earned an Associates Degree in Fire Science, which quickly propelled his military career, ranking ‘Senior Airman Below The Zone.’

But despite his accomplishments, entering back into the civilian world as a firefighter wouldn’t be as easy as one might think.

Realizing there was still a long road ahead, Derek made the decision to re-educate himself as a civilian, and went back to school to study business, and learn about human behavior.

Derek proceeded to educate himself and climb up the corporate ladder. Breaking all-time sales records working in companies like McDonalds, American Golf, and Lucky Strike, Derek gained recognition helping these businesses and individuals thrive. “Serve the people, and they will seek you out. You become the reason people come back.” - Derek D.

It was in 2018 when he learned the most valuable lessons thus far, when his mentor from American Golf asked him to interview with

Derek felt fulfilled professionally, but the time he was able to spend with his family was limited, and in 2022, to better nurture his personal life decided to start a consulting company.

A LESSON FROM THE PROS…

Revenant soon came into the picture, when Derek had the opportunity to sit down with NFL legends Jim McMahon and Kyle Turley. He listened to their stories about using cannabis to heal mental and physical pain acquired during their football careers. He learned about the repercussions that NFL players had to pay in the form of fines, suspensions, and fallen reputations for self medicating with a harmless plant, all while being prescribed dangerous opiates and amphetamines. But one of the most surprising lessons was about a group of individuals tokened ‘The Pre-93ers’: former NFL athletes that played before 1993 who were left with no pension, retirement fund or medical assistance.

“Being from a black minority family, it’s always been in me to fight for people’s rights, but after a 30 year career, that fight in me felt rejuvenated. I don’t want to hear another story about death by opiate addiction, when there are organic and natural alternatives. I have one goal now: Break down the stigmas around cannabis, and do everything in my power to make a change, and I won’t quit until the NFL stops testing.” - Derek Duronlet

REVENANT, “TAKE YOUR LIFE BACK”

Founded by NFL legends Jim McMahon, Kyle Turley and Eben Britton, Revenant was established to provide premium quality cannabis with compassion and convenience, to address illnesses and injuries.

Bonded in brotherhood by their love for the game, the common thread that binds them now is undoubtedly their pursuit of the legalization of cannabis within the NFL.

“Our mission is to provide an alternative, natural way of healing without using industrialized pharmaceuticals.”

Like so many other NFL athletes, Kyle Turley and Jim McMahon suffer from CTE: chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain condition attributed to repeated blows to the head, which slowly gets worse over time, eventually leading to dementia.

When asked for the best piece of anecdotal evidence he has for the effectiveness of cannabis, after all the injuries and side effects and diagnosis over the years, Kyle Turley replied simply, “I’m still here.”