Michael Sonnenreich

Michael Roy Sonnenreich is a lawyer, art collector, and a philanthropist who previously worked in technology, pharmaceutical, and global marketing. He is notable for co-creating the Controlled Substances Act while serving as the Executive Director of the Shafer Commission.

Sonnenreich is the Chairman of the Board of Kikaku America International, President of The Fund to Conserve United States Diplomatic Treasures Abroad (a privately funded sub-division of the State Department), and Vice Chairman of PharMa International Corporation in Tokyo, Japan. He is a graduate of Harvard University Law School, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Madrid, Spain.

Government
Sonnenreich served from 1963-1965 as a Second Lieutenant in the military and was honorably discharged. He started serving in the Department of Justices' criminal law division for a few years. Then, Sonnenreich had transferred to the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD: division of the Department of Justice) as Deputy Chief Counsel from 1969-1971, and was later appointed by President Nixon to be the Executive Director of the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse / Shafer Commission from 1971-1973. While there, with the help of his friend White House Counsel head John Dean and the Director of the BNDD John Ingersoll, they formulated the Controlled Substances Act. He was also President of the National Coordinating Council on Drug Education from 1973-1974.

Relations with Arthur M. Sackler
While working in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, Sonnenreich fought cases against psychiatrist Arthur Sackler concerning Betadine, Senaflax, Librium and Valium. Although on opposite sides of these cases, Sackler approached Sonnenreich to join his legal team. Sonnenreich at the time wanted to stay "with the government" and didn't want to be affiliated with Sackler; however, Sonnenreich accepted his job offer. Sonnenreich worked with Sackler for more than a decade. Sackler gave Sonnenreich the ability to control his assets and stocks while working for him. When Sackler died in 1987, Sonnenreich helped establish the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the (Freer Gallery of Art/Smithsonian Institution) and the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art to preserve some of both their art collections.

Later career
Sonnenreich has served as a board member and trustee of many companies, among them Wi2Wi, Tyhee Development Corp. Ltd., Scientific American, and Medical Tribune International. Sonnenreich was president of the Washington National Opera from 1996-1998 and again in 2002-2006. He was chairman of the DC Jazz Festival (2010-2014)  and commissioner of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (2008-2011). Secretary Glickman and Sonnenreich lead the international conference on government regulation and the world food supply in 1997, while Sonnenreich was on the board at Tufts University. In 2007, Sonnenreich "used his extensive Rolodex (and uncanny political abilities) to help free a group of jailed workers employed in an American factory in Asia, thereby averting the shut-down of that company’s operations," prompting a reconciliation with the host government.

Recognition
In 2008, he was named Distinguished Washingtonian by the University Club of Washington, DC. Also, the Washington Life Magazine listed Michael Sonnenreich in the Power 100 three consecutive times, occurring in 2007, 2008, and 2009.

Committee hearing records

 * Hearings, Reports and Prints of the House Committee on Appropriations. US Congress. (1971). US Government Printing Office.
 * Report of the Panel on the Impact of Information on Drug Use and Misuse, Phase I. (1972). National Academy of Sciences.
 * Marihuana research and legal controls (1974). Hearings before the Subcommittee on Alcoholism and Narcotics of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, United States Senate, Ninety-third Congress, second session ... November 19 and 20 (1974).
 * United States Congress Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare Subcommittee on Alcoholism (1975). United States Congress.
 * Presidential Daily Diary, compiled 10-1969 (1969). The White House.
 * Anderson, Patrick. High in America. (2015). Garrett County Press.
 * Sonnenreich, Mirchael, Bogomolny, Robert, Graham, Robert J. Handbook of Federal narcotic and dangerous drug laws (1969). For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. Print. Office
 * Second Supplemental Appropriation Bill (1971). Hearings Before Subcommittees of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, Ninety-second Congress, First Session (1971). U.S. Government Printing Office.