When the State Targets You
How a Legal Cannabis Initiative Became a Threat to The Narco-State
I never thought selling legal weed alternatives would nearly get me killed. But in Ireland, when you challenge the underground drug market—and the institutions that protect it—you quickly learn the price of resistance.
This is a story about cannabis reform, gang retaliation, and a state that appears more interested in silencing community action than confronting real harm. I’m sharing this not to sensationalise or profit, but to protect myself, raise awareness, and call for solidarity.
Because what happened to me could happen to any grassroots harm reduction worker who dares to step outside the shadows.
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The Beginning: Build-a-Buds Was Born Out of Need
In Spring 2023, I founded Build-a-Buds LTD and sister company The People's Flower Market Limited in Dublin—grassroots initiatives that distribute safe, lab-tested, legal cannabinoid products like HHC and THCP. Our goal? Provide an alternative to the unregulated, gang-controlled cannabis trade that dominates our streets.
We’re inspired by models like Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles: use cannabis not as a trap, but as a tool to fund recovery, exit gang culture, and give people their lives back.
The social response was immediate and powerful. But so was the anti-social pushback.
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Threats, Violence, and a Near-Fatal Attack
As our project gained visibility, I started receiving threats. People followed me. Told me to shut it down. Tried to intimidate me into ceasing operations.
Then, on Monday, January 29th, 2024, just hours after I had reported to the Gardaí that these threats had now escalated severely, I was attacked by two men in what I believe was an attempted assassination. I narrowly escaped on foot.
I gave a two detailed statements at the Clondalkin Garda station that day, detailing how local criminals, going on months, had said Mac was not an 'ODC (Ordinary Decent Criminal)' or how Mac should watch out because he's down here 'freelance (not a hood)'. Now one needn't be a hood to understand criminal parlance. But since my report; I've been met by Garda inaction and stonewalling.
PULSE Reference Numbers: 23484670 & 23484003 (You can request redacted links to audio recordings of all Gardai interviews, and many of the aforementioned threats, if you belong to a law firm or media organisation)
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Then One of My Attackers Turned Up Dead
Weeks later, I recognised one of the men who attacked me. He was on the cover of every Irish newspaper. The image used in the article in the Irish Examiner titled: “Man suspected of supplying fatal drugs found dead” even appeared to show him in the exact same attire described on the day of the assault.
He had not been arrested. Nor charged. And no investigation was opened linking him to the assault after I reported him.
He simply ended up dead. Quietly. Without questions.
In my opinion, he was killed extrajudicially because my statements would have almost certainly led to his positive identification and arrest.
That would have then led to the identification of the Narco-State criminals who ordered my intimidation/ assault/ murder.
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Gardaí Have Repeatedly Seized Our Legal Products Without Justification
Since then, Gardaí have targeted The People's Dankest repeatedly and we believe extra-legally. Last year they stole more than 40,000 Euro in stock through targeted economic sabotage of my community-driven business. Our legal cannabinoid products have been seized during stops or raids—without proper documentation, without charges, and without the products ever being formally logged as evidence.
We have operated at a loss due to this sabotage. This is not regulation. This is suppression.
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False Accusations, Framing Attempts, and a Media Smear
It didn’t stop there. At one point, I believe someone from within the state apparatus tried to frame me for misappropriating funds from the charity I volunteer for. Fortunately, the founder of the charity knows me well enough (I lived on-site as a volunteer for a year) that he knew I couldn't have been the culprit (he knows me too well). He probably suspected a jealous intern: I suspected it was state actors engaging in counter insurgency tactics. They were trying to sully my reputation and cut off my support network to end The People's Dankest that way. They failed yet again.
So, then, on April 15th, 2025, the Derry Journal, and several other major outlets, ran this article:
“Gardaí seize suspected cannabis vapes in Bundoran, Co. Donegal after someone takes ill”
The People's Dankest was the only HHC retailer in Bundoran town around that time, so it was likely all a concocted narrative used to weaponise the media against The People's Dankest. They certainly didn't knock on my door. Quite the contrary: I would have been trying to contact An Garda for updates, as I have been on at least a monthly basis for the past 12 months to no avail.
The smear article doesn’t name anyone. No lab tests are cited. No charges were filed. Just vague claims linking illness to “suspected cannabis derivatives.” But to anyone watching, it’s obvious what’s happening:
They are trying to paint harm reduction products as dangerous, and create public justification for further suppression.
This is coordinated narrative warfare.
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We’re Not Going Quietly
Comrade Mac is not in this for the money, and is not afraid to stand his ground. Let’s be clear: Build-a-Buds products are fully legal under current Irish law. All products are hemp-derived, lab-tested, compliant, and carefully distributed with harm reduction as the guiding principle.
We are transparent. We are community-first. And we are here because the current system is failing—killing, even—the very people it claims to protect.
If someone gets sick, investigate it. But don’t weaponise vague headlines to destroy grassroots movements doing what the state refuses to do.
If someone threatens our business, or uses uniformed enforcers to steal from us: We want accountability, transparency and justice.
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What We’re Asking For
We don’t need pity. We need support.
Legal allies who understand civil rights and institutional overreach
Journalists and documentarians who aren’t afraid to follow the real story
Community donors and organisers who want to help us build something lasting
Digital allies to help us archive and protect this information
If you're one of those people—or want to be—reach out.
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Final Word
This started with cannabis. But it became a story about corruption, resistance, and survival.
The Irish state, whether through indifference or collusion, is protecting gangs and punishing reformers. And until that changes, we will keep speaking, keep fighting, and keep building something better from the ground up.
Getting drugs out of the hands of hoods is the first step in getting hoods out of our communities.
Free the weed and fuck the hoods.
— Comrade Mac