Craziness, craziness I tell ya

With most of our audience being from Minnesota, I’m sure most of you are acutely aware of what’s been going on here recently with ramped up federal activity. And to be fair, we’ve become such a hotspot now, that pretty much the whole nation knows. I won’t lie, things are getting bad. Regardless of where you stand, I think we can all agree that two un-armed American citizens dead at the hands of Federal Agents is disgusting and a travesty. Like I said, I will do my best to be objective here; however I will NOT be objective to fascism and I mean that.

There have now been dozens of documented cases of Federal Agents unlawfully detaining American citizens and abusing and mistreating them. They’ve defied Court orders to stop using tear gas on lawful protestors and targeted schools including detaining minors themselves. Lastly, and hopefully this really drives the point home, an internal memo from DHS revealed that they’ve been instructing agents to enter homes forcefully *without* a judicial warrant. Folks, this is literally unconstitutional. And again, these are all just the facts. Not once have I even mentioned anything about immigrants- these are just the things they’re doing to citizens! So you can feel happy or rejoice in those facts if that’s your thing (and I really hope not at this point) but it is the reality on the ground from someone living there.

Why do I bring all this up? Well aside from feeling obligated to speak out when citizens’ Constitutional Rights are trampled, to be completely honest, it has effected my work with Frontline Bud Foundation and I’m sorry for that. It makes me emotional seeing Federal Agents gun down civilians. And I’ll share a personal story here to drive it home on why this is effecting me so hard:

So back in Basic Training, we had a drill sergeant, Drill Sergeant Rivard. Honestly, he was my favorite of our platoon. I always felt like he was fair despite being stern and disciplined. He would always make us laugh the way he said “Awesome” in some not so awesome contexts lol. Anyways, I was at Basic the day of the Boston Marathon Bombing. We weren’t allowed our phones at the time so DS Rivard decided to fill us in on what was going on. I recall one of the first things he said after giving a brief overview was “Privates, they’re sending agents door-to-door looking for guns.” I don’t remember every detail but he went on to say something that I do remember word-for-word “Remember your oath, Privates. And never obey an illegal order, even if it’s from me.” This was obviously about gun control but I instantly had a flashback to it after Renee Good’s murder. Again, just my personal opinion that does not reflect the views of Frontline Bud Foundation: “Federal agents should not shoot unarmed, fleeing or otherwise peaceful civilians.” And hopefully if you do disagree with me, you can at least understand why I feel so passionately in the way I do.

So back to Frontline Bud Foundation…..We’re a Minnesotan organization led by Minnesotans; we can’t help but be effected by what’s going on. That’s why you’ve probably noticed I haven’t been posting like I used to and there’s also not a lot of enthusiasm for events around here. Things will get better but right now, they’re pretty bad. I refuse to leave on a sour note however because that would be ceding defeat- something that I refuse to do. I am working on a plan to better handle my emotions around these events in my backyard and for the organization to continue to grow and weather anything in its future. I’ll outline some of our upcoming stuff below.

Lucky Leaf After-Party

For those who are attending Lucky Leaf next month, heads up there is an after-party and it’s at the fabulous Earl Giles! Frontline Bud Foundation will be holding a raffle with lots of cool prizes including a Cannatrol, Grow Lights, Under-Canopy Lights, Nutrient Bundles, Granny’s Hemp Treats and more! Raffle tickets will be $20 each or 3/50$ and 8/100$ however they must be purchased physically from me (David) or an affiliated ticket rep (Brendan, Kayla, Dejan, etc.). I’ll be at Earl Giles every Wednesday for Canna Club, leading up to the event otherwise just send me an email to meet up. You do not have to be present at the time of drawing to win. We’re pretty excited for this one for a lot of reasons. Lucky Leaf was where I met Jason last year and things really got started for FBF. We’ve always enjoyed this conference and have gotten a lot out of it both in terms of education and networking. We’ll also gain additional exposure through the event and be able to raise funds- funds that will hopefully be sorely needed for *approved* grant projects later in the year. To get tickets for the after-party, click here. We hope to see you there!

Grants

We did successfully submit an application to CanRenew so fingers crossed. Y’all know if we get this one, we’re gonna go all out for you guys. Shout out to the Minnesota Legislature for making these funds available. Next up, we’re looking at the MN Dual Pipeline Training Grant. Applications open on February 23rd. This one may not be veterans’ focused but we’ll do our best to fold them into programming where we’re able. It’s mostly centered on workforce preparation and job training in Minnesota, primarily in a few designated sectors that have been analyzed by state agencies and deemed to have both quantity and quality of jobs. Cannabis was added as a sector last year with Cultivation Supervisor and Budtending Supervisor being the first two “Career Pathways’ to be added. Looking ahead, we’re also committed to applying for the CanTrain and CanGrow, with some awesome partners of course! Which leads to the next point.

We’re still right on track for a great year!

It doesn’t feel like it right now. But we are. I have high standards for myself and this organization. And that’s a good thing. But it does come with baggage that I have to be mindful of. We’ve got tons of events lined up, hopefully some grant projects approved and lots of education to unpack! In our 2025 Impact Report, I made several mentions of us being a young but nimble organization that learned a lot. In 2026, we’re continuing to make strides from those learnings and raise more money and resources so that we can have a larger impact. I think that may have been the biggest lesson of all that I took from Frontline Bud Foundation last year- to have impact, you must have resources.

What to expect from here?!

Well like I said, I am working on handling things better from a personal as well as professional standpoint. In our 2025 Impact Report, I committed to publishing one blog post each month in 2026. While this one may not have been the brightest or most optimistic, I did still give you an update! Going forward, you will see at least one blog each month. What will February’s topic be? You’ll just have to find out!