Government Sonnenreich served from 1963 to 1965 as a
Second Lieutenant in the military and was
honorably discharged. After Sonnenreich graduated from Harvard Law and passed the D.C. bar exam, 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 (a division of the
Department of Justice) as Deputy Chief Counsel from 1969 to 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 to 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 to 1974. While working at the Supreme Court, Sonnenreich became a partner at his own firm Sonnenreich & Roccograndi in Washington, DC, specializing in International Business, Drug Law, Pharmaceutical Regulation. He terminated his law firm partnership after joining Sackler's personal legal cohort.
Relations with Arthur M. Sackler While working in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, Sonnenreich prosecuted supreme court 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 did not want to work directly for Sackler; years later 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 to 1998 and again from 2002 to 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 and
Johns Hopkins 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. ==Further reading==