DEA Accountability as Cannabis Research Crisis Deepens And Patients Suffer

With the confirmation of incoming DEA Administrator Terrance Cole, the opportunity for reform has arrived. The DEA must choose between outdated drug war politics and advancing public health.

MMJ International Holdings Issues Clarification on Irvine Labs.

WASHINGTON, DC / ACCESS Newswire / August 1, 2025 / MMJ International Holdings, Inc. (“MMJ”) today issued a public clarification regarding prior statements about Irvine Labs, Inc., while calling for an urgent reckoning with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) catastrophic mismanagement of America’s cannabis research policy.

In a previous press release, MMJ referenced widespread inactivity among DEA-registered marijuana manufacturers. While these statements were intended to highlight systemic failures within the DEA’s quota and licensing system, MMJ acknowledges that this language may have unintentionally caused confusion regarding Irvine Labs, Inc.

MMJ hereby clarifies that Irvine Labs, Inc. is a registered DEA entity and, to the best of MMJ’s current knowledge, holds valid DEA registrations. MMJ did not intend to imply that Irvine Labs is inactive or insolvent, and any interpretation suggesting otherwise is hereby retracted.

This clarification, however, does not alter the underlying crisis: the DEA’s marijuana manufacturing quota system is fundamentally broken. Despite a supposed expansion of DEA licenses, no registrant-except MMJ-has produced sufficient pharmaceutical-grade cannabis to support a single FDA-compliant clinical trial.

The Devastating Reality:

• Maridose (Maine): Only 1,100 sq. ft. of space, not growing.

• Bright Green Corp: Surrendered its registration without ever planting a crop.

• Royal Emerald Pharmaceuticals: Inactive and facing financial distress.

• Groff NA Hemplex & Scottsdale Research Institute: No active cultivation for clinical trials.

• BRC: Producing quantities far below clinical thresholds.

• University of Mississippi: Continues to grow substandard, research-incompatible marijuana.

MMJ remains the only federally compliant entity actively pursuing the cultivation of strain-specific, pharmaceutical-grade cannabis for FDA-approved clinical trials targeting Huntington’s Disease and Multiple Sclerosis. Yet, for over seven years, the DEA has obstructed MMJ’s efforts through unconstitutional administrative proceedings, arbitrary quotas, and a bureaucratic “Catch-22” that demands documentation (BFSA) which is unattainable without the very registration the DEA refuses to grant.

A Constitutional Crisis Exposed

The Supreme Court’s rulings in Axon v. FTC and Jarkesy v. SEC have now exposed the DEA’s internal administrative law judge (ALJ) system as an unconstitutional charade. Despite this, DEA legal counsel Aarathi Haig continues to defend a system the Department of Justice has now abandoned. Former Chief ALJ John “McLooney” Mulrooney has since retired, leaving behind what critics call a “legal dumpster fire.”

MMJ’s legal exceptions, filed July 3, 2025, detail the agency’s structural bias, retroactive sabotage, and deliberate obstruction of medical research. “We followed every law, built the FDA-inspected facility, and secured our clinical approvals,” said Duane Boise, CEO of MMJ International Holdings. “What the DEA calls regulation is nothing more than bureaucratic revenge.”

The Time for Reckoning is Now

With the confirmation of incoming DEA Administrator Terrance Cole, the opportunity for reform has arrived. The DEA must choose between outdated drug war politics and advancing public health. This demands immediate action:

• Fire entrenched obstructionists like Thomas Prevoznik.

• Investigate Aarathi Haig for perpetuating unconstitutional legal processes.

• Transfer oversight of cannabis research to the FDA, where science-not sabotage-will guide policy.

“The DEA has spent a decade fortifying a broken system that protects monopolies, obstructs innovation, and ignores public safety disasters like the Assured Testing Labs scandal in Massachusetts,” said Boise. “America doesn’t need another anti-marijuana crooner in a suit-it needs a leader who will stand up to this agency’s sabotage and put patients first.”

MMJ International Holdings remains committed to factual accuracy and will continue to expose systemic failures that endanger patients, stifle science, and betray the public trust.

MMJ is represented by attorney Megan Sheehan.

CONTACT:
Madison Hisey
MHisey@mmjih.com
203-231-8583

SOURCE: MMJ International Holdings

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire