Latest news with #ThomasPrevoznik
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
DEA Cannabis Poisoned, Zero Oversight-Massachusetts Lab Scandal: A Case Study in DEA's Regulatory Collapse
Poisoned Cannabis, Zero DEA Oversight The DEA's mission statement is a sham under Thomas Prevoznik's watch. Americans are being poisoned by untested state cannabis operators while terminal patients are denied potential cures. WASHINGTON, D.C. / / July 6, 2025 / The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) exists to "prevent, detect, and investigate the diversion of controlled substances while ensuring an adequate and uninterrupted supply for legitimate medical, commercial, and scientific needs". Yet under the leadership of Deputy Administrator Thomas Prevoznik, the DEA's Diversion Control Division has catastrophically failed this mission. Instead of protecting public health, the agency has allowed contaminated cannabis to flood state markets-poisoning consumers-while simultaneously blocking federally compliant pharmaceutical research that could save lives. This is not just bureaucratic incompetence; it is systemic negligence bordering on malpractice. 1. DEA's Mission Failure: Poisoned Cannabis, Zero Oversight The Massachusetts Scandal: A Case Study in Regulatory Collapse In Massachusetts, Assured Testing Laboratories-a facility responsible for testing 25% of the state's cannabis-was caught falsifying safety reports, concealing contamination, and approving products that should have failed for yeast, mold, and microbial toxins. Thousands of tainted products reached consumers, yet the DEA: Took no enforcement action Issued no national recall Failed to intervene despite its mandate to prevent diversion and ensure safety. This is not an isolated incident. Across the U.S., unregulated cannabis markets operate like the "Wild West"-with no federal quality control, no uniform safety standards, and no accountability. The DEA, under Prevoznik, has abdicated its duty, leaving Americans exposed to dangerous products while offering no recourse. 2. Blocking Medical Breakthroughs: The DEA's War on Science While turning a blind eye to contaminated street cannabis, the DEA has actively obstructed federally approved pharmaceutical research. MMJ BioPharma, a company developing cannabis-based treatments for Huntington's Disease and Multiple Sclerosis, has faced seven years of bureaucratic sabotage despite: Holding FDA Investigational New Drug (IND) approvals Securing Orphan Drug Designation for Huntington's therapy Passing DEA security inspections. Yet, Prevoznik's division refuses to grant MMJ a bulk manufacturing license, citing a retroactive "Bona Fide Supply Agreement" (BFSA) requirement that creates an impossible Catch-22: No supplier will sign a contract without DEA approval. DEA won't approve without a signed contract. This obstruction is not just regulatory failure-it's deliberate stonewalling. As MMJ's legal filings reveal, DEA Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) operate in a structurally biased system, where registrants win only 20-25% of cases, and the DEA overturns nearly all pro-registrant rulings. 3. The Human Cost: Patients Suffer While Illicit Markets Thrive The DEA's hypocrisy is staggering: Patients with epilepsy, cancer, and neurological disorders are denied access to standardized, pharmaceutical-grade cannabis112. Meanwhile, unregulated THC products-laced with pesticides, mold, and heavy metals-flood the market, making consumers sick 15. Prevoznik's DEA has created the worst of both worlds:No protection for consumers from tainted pathway for research into life-saving medicines. 4. Time for Accountability: Fire Prevoznik, Overhaul the DEA The solution is clear: Remove Thomas Prevoznik for gross negligence and regulatory malpractice. Transfer cannabis oversight to the FDA/NIH, where science-not stigma-guides policy. Investigate DEA's Diversion Control Division for systemic bias and corruption. As MMJ BioPharma CEO Duane Boise stated: "The DEA's Diversion Control Division, under Prevoznik's leadership, has failed to protect the public, failed to uphold science, and failed to meet even the most basic standards of competence." Fire Thomas Prevoznik: A Call to Action The DEA's mission statement is a sham under Prevoznik's watch. Americans are being poisoned by untested cannabis while terminal patients are denied potential cures. Congress must intervene, the courts must act, and the public must demand accountability. Enough is enough. It's time to end the DEA's obstructionism and put public health over bureaucracy. MMJ is Represented by Attorney Megan Sheahan and Associates CONTACT:Madison Hiseymedia@ SOURCE: MMJ International Holdings View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Associated Press
06-07-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
DEA Cannabis Poisoned, Zero Oversight-Massachusetts Lab Scandal: A Case Study in DEA's Regulatory Collapse
Poisoned Cannabis, Zero DEA Oversight The DEA's mission statement is a sham under Thomas Prevoznik's watch. Americans are being poisoned by untested state cannabis operators while terminal patients are denied potential cures. WASHINGTON, D.C. / ACCESS Newswire / July 6, 2025 / The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) exists to 'prevent, detect, and investigate the diversion of controlled substances while ensuring an adequate and uninterrupted supply for legitimate medical, commercial, and scientific needs ". Yet under the leadership of Deputy Administrator Thomas Prevoznik, the DEA's Diversion Control Division has catastrophically failed this mission. Instead of protecting public health, the agency has allowed contaminated cannabis to flood state markets-poisoning consumers-while simultaneously blocking federally compliant pharmaceutical research that could save lives. This is not just bureaucratic incompetence; it is systemic negligence bordering on malpractice. 1. DEA's Mission Failure: Poisoned Cannabis, Zero Oversight The Massachusetts Scandal: A Case Study in Regulatory Collapse In Massachusetts, Assured Testing Laboratories-a facility responsible for testing 25% of the state's cannabis-was caught falsifying safety reports, concealing contamination, and approving products that should have failed for yeast, mold, and microbial toxins. Thousands of tainted products reached consumers, yet the DEA: This is not an isolated incident. Across the U.S., unregulated cannabis markets operate like the 'Wild West"-with no federal quality control, no uniform safety standards, and no accountability. The DEA, under Prevoznik, has abdicated its duty, leaving Americans exposed to dangerous products while offering no recourse. 2. Blocking Medical Breakthroughs: The DEA's War on Science While turning a blind eye to contaminated street cannabis, the DEA has actively obstructed federally approved pharmaceutical research. MMJ BioPharma, a company developing cannabis-based treatments for Huntington's Disease and Multiple Sclerosis, has faced seven years of bureaucratic sabotage despite: Yet, Prevoznik's division refuses to grant MMJ a bulk manufacturing license, citing a retroactive 'Bona Fide Supply Agreement' (BFSA) requirement that creates an impossible Catch-22: This obstruction is not just regulatory failure-it's deliberate stonewalling. As MMJ's legal filings reveal, DEA Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) operate in a structurally biased system, where registrants win only 20-25% of cases, and the DEA overturns nearly all pro-registrant rulings. 3. The Human Cost: Patients Suffer While Illicit Markets Thrive The DEA's hypocrisy is staggering: Prevoznik's DEA has created the worst of both worlds: No protection for consumers from tainted products. No pathway for research into life-saving medicines. 4. Time for Accountability: Fire Prevoznik, Overhaul the DEA The solution is clear: As MMJ BioPharma CEO Duane Boise stated: 'The DEA's Diversion Control Division, under Prevoznik's leadership, has failed to protect the public, failed to uphold science, and failed to meet even the most basic standards of competence.' Fire Thomas Prevoznik: A Call to Action The DEA's mission statement is a sham under Prevoznik's watch. Americans are being poisoned by untested cannabis while terminal patients are denied potential cures. Congress must intervene, the courts must act, and the public must demand accountability. Enough is enough. It's time to end the DEA's obstructionism and put public health over bureaucracy. MMJ is Represented by Attorney Megan Sheahan and Associates CONTACT: Madison Hisey [email protected] 203-231-8583 SOURCE: MMJ International Holdings press release
Associated Press
04-07-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
DEA's Thomas Prevoznik Fails Again: Cannabis Users Poisoned While Pharmaceutical Cannabis Remains Blocked
While the DEA's Thomas Prevoznik Turned a Blind Eye, American Cannabis Users Were Poisoned: How the DEA Regulatory Failure and Inaction Enabled a Public Health Crisis. WASHINGTON, D.C. / ACCESS Newswire / July 4, 2025 / The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is asleep at the wheel - or worse, willfully negligent - as contaminated cannabis floods state markets, consumers are poisoned, and legitimate pharmaceutical research is actively blocked by the very agency tasked with protecting public health. At the center of this national disgrace is DEA's Deputy Administrator Thomas Prevoznik, the long-time bureaucrat at the helm of the DEA's Diversion Control Division. While Prevoznik parades around on taxpayer-funded panels pretending to safeguard public safety, the truth is undeniable: the DEA has utterly failed its mission. As stated on the DEA website: 'The mission of DEA's Diversion Control Division is to prevent, detect, and investigate the diversion of controlled pharmaceuticals and listed chemicals from legitimate sources while ensuring an adequate and uninterrupted supply for legitimate medical, commercial, and scientific needs'. State Cannabis Chaos Exposes DEA Incompetence The latest scandal comes out of Massachusetts, where state regulators just suspended the license of Assured Testing Laboratories -one of the largest cannabis labs in the state-after uncovering what they describe as an 'intentional effort to conceal' failing safety results on cannabis products. The lab, which tested 25% of all cannabis in the state, was caught falsifying reports, hiding contamination, and greenlighting dangerous products that should have failed mandatory yeast, mold, and microbial standards. Thousands of cannabis products were put into consumer hands without accurate safety testing. Yet not a word from the DEA. Not a single enforcement action. No national recall. No intervention. The DEA's Mission: Betrayed from Within The DEA's own mission is crystal clear: 'To prevent, detect, and investigate the diversion of controlled substances while ensuring an adequate and uninterrupted supply for legitimate medical, commercial, and scientific needs.' Under Prevoznik's failed leadership, that mission has become a farce. Why Is Prevoznik Blocking Science While Allowing Poison? The hypocrisy is staggering: It's the worst of both worlds: The public is unprotected and medical innovation is obstructed. The Human Cost of Prevoznik's Failures This is not regulation. This is dereliction of duty. Time for Accountability: Fire Prevoznik, Reform DEA The solution is clear: Thomas Prevoznik must be immediately removed from his position for gross negligence and regulatory malpractice. The DEA's obstruction of pharmaceutical cannabis research must end. Oversight of cannabis research should be transferred to agencies that understand science-such as the FDA or NIH. Congress must investigate how the DEA has allowed the national cannabis market to devolve into chaos while blocking life-saving medicines from reaching patients. 'The DEA's Diversion Control Division, under Prevoznik's leadership, has failed to protect the public, failed to uphold science, and failed to meet even the most basic standards of competence,' said Duane Boise, CEO of MMJ BioPharma Cultivation . 'It's time for the DEA to be held accountable for decades of failure.' The American People Deserve Better The DEA exists to serve and protect the public, not to act as a political roadblock while Americans are poisoned and scientific progress is stalled. Prevoznik failed. The DEA failed. It's time for Congress, the courts, and the public to take back control. MMJ is represented by attorney Megan Sheehan. CONTACT: Madison Hisey [email protected] 203-231-8583 SOURCE: MMJ International Holdings press release
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DEA's Marijuana Defiance Deepens: Rogue Bureaucrats Undermine DOJ, Supreme Court, and Rule of Law
Terrance Cole's First Test: Will He Restore DEA Diversion To Legitimacy As the DEA Diversion spirals into constitutional crisis, all eyes now turn to incoming Administrator Terrance Cole. With the Supreme Court, DOJ, and Congress aligned on the illegality of the agency's ALJ system, Cole faces a clear mandate: dismantle the DEA's kangaroo court framework, remove corrupt leadership like Thomas Prevoznik, Matthew Strait and attorney Aarathi Haig, restore sound marijuana policy and return the agency to the rule of law. His next moves will determine whether the DEA Diversion can be salvaged-or whether it must be restructured from the ground up. WASHINGTON, DC / / June 8, 2025 / While the Department of Justice has publicly withdrawn its defense of DEA unconstitutional administrative law judges (ALJs), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) continues to flout executive orders, Supreme Court precedent, and congressional intent-all while using tainted legal proceedings to obstruct cannabis science and protect entrenched interests. This brazen defiance is no longer theoretical-it is operational. The DEA is actively weaponizing a judicial system that the U.S. Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional in Axon v. FTC and Jarkesy v. SEC. Despite Attorney General Pam Bondi's directive that the DOJ will no longer defend this structure, the DEA marches forward, conducting hearings before ALJs who cannot be removed by the President-an arrangement that violates the Appointments Clause and undermines the separation of powers. The DOJ Says It's Over-The DEA Didn't Get the Memo In direct contradiction to Bondi's notice to Congress-including Judiciary Committee leaders like Senator Chuck Grassley-DEA officials have scheduled yet another ALJ hearing against MMJ BioPharma Cultivation, a federally compliant research firm seeking to advance treatments for Multiple Sclerosis and Huntington's Disease. This is not just bureaucratic overreach-it's deliberate sabotage. Worse, the DEA is exploiting the legal ambiguity around "harm" to sidestep accountability. By claiming that MMJ and similar companies must first suffer irreparable injury before federal courts can intervene, the agency is playing a dangerous game-daring businesses to be destroyed before they can challenge illegal proceedings. "The DEA's abuse of the harm requirement is nothing short of gaslighting," said MMJ CEO Duane Boise. "They tell us to wait for damage, then slam the door shut when that damage arrives." The Real Harm Is Institutional The true injury here isn't just to MMJ or its scientists-it's to the American system of checks and balances. When an executive agency refuses to comply with a Supreme Court ruling and ignores its own Justice Department's constitutional analysis, it becomes something far more dangerous: an unelected, unaccountable power unto itself. The Architects of Obstruction: Prevoznik, Strait, and Haig DEA bureaucrats Thomas Prevoznik, Matthew Strait, and Aarathi Haig have emerged as the chief engineers of this lawless agenda. Haig, already under fire for her ineligibility to practice law in New Jersey due to bar compliance failures, remains the lead attorney against MMJ. Her continued participation not only violates 28 U.S.C. § 530B but further erodes the integrity of the agency's actions. Prevoznik and Strait, meanwhile, continue to stall legitimate cannabis research applications while ignoring illegal THC imports and exports. This two-tiered system punishes innovators and protects political allies. Congress Must Step In-or Be Complicit Lawmakers must recognize that the DEA is no longer just dragging its feet-it is actively resisting constitutional order. That resistance demands immediate action: Terminate the use of ALJs in all DEA enforcement matters. Remove agency officials who violate ethical or constitutional mandates. Transfer cannabis research oversight to FDA or NIH. Hold hearings on DOJ-DEA discord and bureaucratic insubordination. If Congress fails to act, it will confirm what many Americans already suspect-that federal agencies like the DEA can operate beyond the law, without consequence, and without oversight. The Rule of Law Is Not Optional The DEA's refusal to follow the Supreme Court and its own Department of Justice is a constitutional crisis in real time. It is not just an affront to MMJ-it is a betrayal of every American who believes in due process, scientific integrity, and accountable government. If the DEA cannot respect the law, then the law must be used to dismantle the is represented by attorney Megan Sheehan. CONTACT:Madison HiseyMHisey@ SOURCE: MMJ International Holdings View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Are DEA's Prevoznik and Strait Lecturing the World on Drug Policy While Undermining U.S. Marijuana Law?
The appearance of Thomas Prevoznik and Matthew Strait as thought leaders in global drug policy is more than just tone-deaf-it's dangerous. It validates a failed regulatory approach that punishes innovation, undermines public health, and sidelines scientific progress for political convenience WASHINGTON, DC / / May 20, 2025 / The irony is hard to ignore: two of the most controversial figures within the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Diversion Control Division-Thomas Prevoznik and Matthew Strait-recently took the global stage in Dubai to lecture international law enforcement professionals about drug policy. Thomas Prevoznik, the Division's Assistant Administrator, and Matthew Strait, his Deputy and marijuana policy architects, spoke at the World Police Summit-an event attended by more than 20,000 law enforcement officials from across the globe. Yet back home, these very officials are under growing scrutiny for their alleged role in obstructing legitimate pharmaceutical marijuana research in the United States, particularly in the case of MMJ BioPharma Cultivation. A Case of DEA Hypocrisy For years, Thomas Prevoznik and Matthew Strait have been central figures in the DEA's inexplicable delays of MARIJUANA research applications for pharmaceutical cannabis-applications that are federally lawful, publicly supported, and medically urgent. MMJ International Holdings, a company with two FDA-approved Investigational New Drug (IND) applications, has been waiting over seven years for DEA approval to grow pharmaceutical-grade cannabis. These delays, directed under the authority of Prevoznik and Strait, contradict both the Controlled Substances Act and the DEA's own Diversion Personnel Manual, which prioritizes "expeditious processing" of research-based cannabis applications. So, what business do these officials have lecturing the world on drug enforcement ethics and best practices? Making Up the Rules As They Go Thomas Prevoznik and Matthew Strait have been accused of applying inconsistent standards, misinterpreting regulatory requirements, and essentially rewriting the law as they see fit, depending on who's applying. Rather than following a transparent, science-based process, the two have allegedly engineered a system of selective obstruction-denying or slow-walking cannabis research while using DEA bureaucracy as a shield. It's this brand of regulatory manipulation that the U.S. Supreme Court has recently begun to address, ruling against unchecked agency tribunals and calling into question the DEA's internal adjudication system. Exporting Failure By taking the stage at the World Police Summit, Prevoznik and Strait weren't just presenting policy-they were exporting DEA dysfunction. Their keynote focused on lessons learned from the U.S. opioid crisis, yet the DEA's own failures in curbing opioid abuse-while simultaneously blocking alternatives like cannabinoid-based therapies-paint a picture of regulatory incompetence, not leadership. If anything, this international platform reveals a global public relations campaign designed to preserve the DEA's image abroad while deflecting mounting criticism at home. But reputations aren't built on speeches-they're built on accountability, transparency, and outcomes. DEA: A Dangerous Policy Precedent The appearance of Prevoznik and Strait as thought leaders in global drug policy is more than just tone-deaf-it's dangerous. It validates a failed regulatory approach that punishes innovation, undermines public health, and sidelines scientific progress for political convenience. Before preaching reform to the world, these DEA officials should first be held to account for what they've failed to do right here in the United States. The real summit isn't in Dubai-it's in the courtrooms, laboratories, and hospitals where patients are still waiting for life-saving therapies that the DEA has unjustly delayed. MMJ is represented by attorney Megan Sheehan. CONTACT:Madison HiseyMHisey@ SOURCE: MMJ International Holdings View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
