DETROIT — President Trump recently announced the appointment of Chaldean American businessman Mark Savaya, owner of one of Michigan’s largest marijuana production and distribution companies, as special envoy to Iraq.

“Mark’s deep understanding of the relationship between Iraq and the United States, and his broad network of regional connections, will help advance the interests of the American people,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

Trump noted that the owner of the cannabis retail chain Leaf & Bud “was a key figure in the Michigan campaign, helping achieve a record turnout among Muslim-American voters.”

Savaya, who is of Chaldean Catholic background, played a visible role in the Chaldean community in metro Detroit, hosting events in support of Trump’s 2024 campaign and helping to mobilize Chaldean American voters in the swing state. He had also donated generously to Trump’s 2024 campaign.

Savaya, a member of Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida, responded quickly to the announcement.

“I feel deeply humbled, proud and grateful to President Donald Trump for appointing me as special envoy to the Republic of Iraq,” he wrote. “I reaffirm my full commitment to strengthening the partnership between the United States and Iraq under President Trump’s leadership and direction.”

At 40-years-old, Mark Savaya owns the Leaf & Bud retail chain in the Detroit area, known for its aggressive marketing campaigns, especially its highway billboards. He is regarded as one of the most prominent figures in Michigan’s cannabis industry.

Savaya founded Future Grow Solutions, an agricultural-tech company that developed the Crop Tower, a vertical-farming system designed to maximize yield in limited space while conserving water and energy — technology primarily used for marijuana cultivation.

Born in Michigan to a Chaldean-Iraqi family who immigrated from Iraq in the 1990s, Savaya spent years managing small retail stores and gas stations before entering the cannabis industry.

Trump’s post on Truth Social about the appointment of Mark Savaya as a special envoy to Iraq.

He began through Michigan’s Medical Marijuana Caregiver Program, which allowed licensed caregivers to grow limited amounts of cannabis for patients — an entry point that gave him hands-on knowledge of plant biology, cultivation techniques and the complex regulatory framework of the industry.

With Michigan’s legalization of recreational marijuana in 2018, Savaya founded Leaf & Bud, adopting a vertical-integration model that enabled his company to control every step of production — from seed cultivation and plant processing to final retail sales through three dispensaries located in Detroit, Hazel Park and Center Line.

He invested tens of millions of dollars in building state-of-the-art cultivation and processing facilities using his company’s own technology, creating hundreds of jobs and generating millions in tax revenue for local communities and the state government each year.

However, Trump’s decision to appoint Savaya as special envoy to Iraq has drawn broad criticism from political and media circles, given the stark contrast between his commercial background in the cannabis industry and the sensitive diplomatic mission he is set to undertake in Iraq — a country where marijuana trafficking is a capital offense in some cases.

Many observers and political figures have described the appointment as “inappropriate”, citing Savaya’s reputation and his close ties to the marijuana business, which they view as incompatible with a diplomatic post in a conservative country like Iraq.

The White House has not yet released an official statement outlining Savaya’s duties or schedule in Iraq, but Trump’s decision comes only months after U.S. diplomats returned to Baghdad, following a temporary withdrawal prompted by the Israeli attack on Iran earlier this year.