Mexico Paves Way for Cannabis Industry with First-Ever License 

Mexico has issued its first-ever license for cannabis cultivation, processing, production, and sales to Xebra Brands, a Canadian-based company. The license allows the company to import and acquire cannabis seeds, cultivate, and harvest cannabis, process and produce cannabis, and sell cannabis products domestically and through export. The decision signifies a substantial departure from Mexico’s long-standing prohibition of the plant and a critical turning point for the nation’s developing legal marijuana market.

Xebra Brands Focus on CBD Market

Xebra Brands’ subsidiary Desart MX received a partial green light to import seeds and grow cannabis with less than 1% THC, the plant’s psychoactive component. Nonetheless, the business is more concentrated on marketing products with cannabidiol (CBD), a substance with therapeutic benefits that is not intoxicating. Xebra Brands said it is actively looking for farmland and a site to build an extraction facility to produce CBD-rich hemp derivatives.

First Company Authorized to Grow at Commercial Scale

Xebra Brands’ local unit is the first company authorized to cultivate, process, produce, and market cannabis in Mexico, the firm said in a statement. The authorizations mark the latest step in a major shift away from Mexico’s decades-long criminalization of the plant that was once a major source of revenue for powerful drug gangs. However, the Mexican health regulator COFEPRIS has raised concerns about the safety of Xebra Brands’ plans, citing health risks, and may seek to cancel the authorizations.

Industry Standard Conditions for Safety and Security

In 2021, Mexico’s Supreme Court voted unanimously to grant Xebra Mexico an irrevocable injunction to commercialize cannabis products. The authorizations received by Xebra Brands include standard conditions concerning safety protocols, security measures, phyto-sanitation processes, pest management procedures, and customary inspection and reporting provisions, the company said. The authorizations are subject to Xebra satisfying the industry standard conditions and initially allowing the commercialization of products that contain less than 1% THC.

Xebra Brands CEO Jay Garnett hailed the license as a major milestone for the global cannabis industry. To avoid setbacks, it will be crucial for industry players to make sure that their goods comply with all safety requirements and laws as Mexico’s regulatory environment continues to change.