This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Sen. Curt Bramble will serve as chairman of the advisory board of directors of a Las Vegas-based company that aims to produce payment programs for cannabis and medical-marijuana dispensaries that are grappling with business challenges.
The company, Medical Cannabis Solutions, plans to offer business systems for cannabis growers and dispensers in states where it is legal. Currently, those stores face hurdles in things like banking and remitting taxes.
Bramble, a Provo Republican, said he has no interest in seeing medicinal marijuana legalized in Utah.
But, he said, the landscape nationally is changing for medical marijuana and he was asked to provide his insight as an accountant experienced with data systems to the company.
"If there are states that are going down the road of legalizing medical marijuana, there's got to be a strict, controlled, regulated environment," Bramble said.
The CEO of the company is Jeremy Roberts, a political ally of Bramble's and former Utah County Republican Party secretary.
Roberts said dispensaries in Colorado that now operate as cash-only businesses need better options. His company hopes to provide "end-to-end management," that includes tracking the growth of the plants, verifying prescriptions through a database, processing the sale and remitting taxes.
"We ought to have the systems and tools in place so we don't have basically the wild West," Roberts said.
Bramble listed his role on the advisory board on his Senate conflict of interest form filed last week. The company announced his role on the board of directors in a press release Wednesday.
Bramble, who is vice president of the National Conference of State Legislatures, said he will not lobby anywhere on behalf of the company and he has not been paid, nor does he plan to be paid for his work. He said at some point it is possible that he would receive shares of stock in the company for serving on the board.