OUR TEAM
DEA Expertise Applied to Cannabis Rescheduling
Nigel Boast
Nigel Boast is the Co-Founder and Principal of Vatic Global Advisors and Boast Consult Inc., with over 25 years of regulatory affairs, compliance, and product development experience spanning the pharmaceutical, cannabis, and biotech sectors.
Nigel has obtained over 45 cannabis licenses across regulatory frameworks with a 100% approval rate. His practice covers DEA and Health Canada federal registration, GMP compliance, SOP development, controlled substance security, and manufacturing commercialization. His legal background (LLB with Post Graduate Law) makes him uniquely qualified to guide clients through the liability disclosure sections of the DEA application, the most consequential and frequently mishandled element of the Schedule III filing.
He holds a Health Canada Security Clearance and has deep experience in C-Suite leadership support, Quality Management Systems, and the federal regulatory processes that govern controlled substances on both sides of the US-Canada border.
Justin Abril
Justin Abril is a Co-Founder and Principal of Vatic, federal compliance practice is built on direct, firsthand experience with one of the most demanding regulatory processes in U.S. controlled substance law. Over a six-year engagement with the DEA, Justin served as primary liaison in securing one of only seven Schedule I marihuana licences issued nationally for cultivation and manufacturing, developing every compliance system, procedure, and protocol from the ground up without established industry precedent.
As founding compliance and operations executive, Justin built a federally compliant Schedule I manufacturing facility, engineered its camera and access control infrastructure to DEA physical security standards, authored 60+ controlled substance standard operating procedures, and established the quality systems required to meet strict cGMP standards.
Following licensure, Justin managed all ongoing federal registration obligations including continuous ARCOS inventory reporting and annual DEA quota applications since 2022, maintaining a 100% success rate across seven consecutive DEA audits.
Justin previously served as a Police Sergeant with the Department of Defense at Camp Pendleton, commanding a 45-person federal law enforcement team for eight years.