From DEA Marijuana Regulator to Consultant: How DEA Retired Administrators Are Now Profiting from the Mess They Created

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Former DEA policy chief Matthew Strait , after stalling America's medical cannabis manufacturing program for years, rebrands himself as a "consultant" - selling advice on how to navigate the very complex bureaucracy he built.

WASHINGTON, DC / ACCESS Newswire / October 23, 2025 / Matthew Strait, the longtime architect of the DEA's failed marijuana manufacturing policies, has reemerged in the private sector under a new banner - Controlled Substance Strategies. The company's mission statement promises to help clients "cut through complexity, stay compliant, and achieve strategic goals."

But behind that polished language lies a striking irony: Strait himself was one of the key officials responsible for creating that complexity in the first place.

DEA Matthew Strait, The Architect of Obstruction

As DEA's Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Diversion Control Division, Strait was responsible for overseeing the agency's licensing and quota programs - including the process for approving companies to manufacture Schedule I substances such as cannabis for scientific and medical research.

Under his watch, the DEA turned what should have been a transparent, time-limited licensing process into a seven-year bureaucratic quagmire that crippled innovation and left patients without access to federally approved cannabinoid medicines.

Companies like MMJ BioPharma Cultivation, which has FDA authorizations and Orphan Drug designations to produce cannabis-derived medicines for Huntington's disease and Multiple Sclerosis, were trapped in endless regulatory limbo while DEA insiders rewrote rules retroactively, shifting requirements mid-stream.

"Matthew Strait creates the problem, now he wants to profit from unraveling his own mess, stated Duane Boise CEO of MMJ.

The Bureaucrat-to-Consultant Pipeline

Strait's new firm - Controlled Substance Strategies - bills itself as a guide for pharmaceutical manufacturers, prescribers, and researchers trying to navigate federal controlled-substance law. It advertises expertise in "quota optimization," "DEA compliance," and even "research with Schedule I controlled substances."

Yet every issue the company claims to solve - licensing backlogs, conflicting policy, outdated regulations - originated inside the very DEA office Strait helped run.

In other words, the same officials who blocked legitimate science for years are now marketing themselves as private-sector "problem solvers."

This revolving-door pattern isn't just bad optics - it raises serious ethical and policy questions about the integrity of federal drug regulation.

Collateral Damage: Patients and Science

While Strait and his former colleagues reinvent their careers, patients continue to suffer. The DEA's failure to process research registrations on time has delayed critical FDA-approved trials for multiple sclerosis and Huntington's disease. Meanwhile, illegal marijuana grows, many financed by foreign criminal networks, have proliferated across the country - unimpeded by the same DEA that claimed to be protecting public health.

The result: a system that blocks scientists while rewarding smugglers.

Accountability Must Come Before Consulting

Congress and the courts are now unraveling the consequences of this bureaucratic misconduct. The Department of Justice's withdrawal of its defense for DEA's in-house tribunal system underscores the constitutional rot that took root under Milgram, Prevoznik, and Strait.

"Until there's accountability for what these people did while in power, no one should be profiting from that legacy," Boise said. "The DEA's obstruction isn't a consulting opportunity - it's a crime scene."

The Bottom Line

Matthew Strait's Controlled Substance Strategies is a masterclass in Washington doublespeak: a firm that claims to help fix the very system its founder broke.

For patients, scientists, and legitimate pharmaceutical developers, it's a reminder that the real work of reform isn't in consultancy - it's in accountability.

MMJ is represented by attorney Megan Sheehan

CONTACT:

Madison Hisey

[email protected]

203-231-8583

SOURCE: MMJ International Holdings