Democratic state Sen. and Clark County Commission candidate Tick Segerblom, who has been the state’s most prominent pot legalization advocate, has joined the board of another marijuana-related company.
In a press release last week, the Las Vegas-based Freedom Leaf, Inc. announced that Segerblom had joined the company’s board of directors to help the brand continue to expand through its magazine and various digital properties.
“I’m really proud to be part of this publicly traded company based in Las Vegas,” he said in an interview. “It fits in with my dream that we can have a marijuana stock exchange based here.”
The company does not handle, grow or sell marijuana products directly, but instead focuses on marijuana-themed branding including publication of the Freedom Leaf Magazine and several hemp-based products including rolling paper and hemp oil. It also owns Leafceuticals, a hemp extraction entity that purchases hemp grown in rural Pahrump, Nevada.
The chairman of the company’s board of directors is Paul Pelosi Jr., the son of Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi.
Freedom Leaf CEO Clifford J. Perry said in a statement that Segerblom’s appointment recognized the company’s commitment to building up the Nevada cannabis industry.
“No one has done more than Senator Segerblom to advance the cause of freedom and build Las Vegas as the world leader in hemp, medical, and recreational marijuana,” he said.
Segerblom said in a brief interview that he didn’t think there would be an ethical conflict with him staying on the board if he was elected to the County Commission, as it deals with hemp — which is regulated by the state — and falls outside the county’s jurisdiction, in North Las Vegas. He said the position doesn’t have a salary but he does receive stock options.
On his 2018 financial disclosure form, Segerblom reported income from MPX Bioceutical Corporation, a Canadian cannabis company that purchased a North Las Vegas cultivation and production facility for $19 million in May 2017.
That company is publicly traded on a Canadian stock exchange, and Segerblom said at the time that he hoped to learn the business model for if and when the U.S. decides to decriminalize marijuana on a federal level.
Segerblom, who has served in the state Legislature since 2006, spearheaded the effort to create a regulatory structure for the state’s medical marijuana program during the 2013 session, and was a prominent backer of the 2016 ballot question legalizing recreational use and sale of marijuana.
He received roughly $31,500 in donations from marijuana businesses during the 2016 election cycle, the most of any state lawmaker.
Segerblom is facing off against labor organizer Marco Hernandez for an open seat on the 7-member Clark County Commission
