Biotech and consumer products company Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd. (TSX-V:NSP)(OTCQB:NSPDF) is focused on developing plant-derived bioactive ingredients, nutrient dense foods and related products, with a product bag already lined with meal replacements, superfoods and hemp and cannabinoid products marketed in various countries worldwide.
In order to capitalize on favorable cannabis market conditions in Canada, the Vancouver-based company wants to get its license from Health Canada to become a licensed dealer of cannabis extracts, including cannabidiol (CBD) and other cannabinoids.
To help in this quest, Naturally Splendid has retained the venerable experts at Cannabis Compliance Inc., a global provider of comprehensive solutions to the legal cannabis industry.
A license will allow Naturally Splendid to widen its Canadian operations and sales channels as they relate to cannabinoids against the backdrop of a burgeoning medical cannabis industry and expectations that Canada this summer will become only the second country (Uruguay is the first) to legalized recreational marijuana nationwide.
According to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's administration, regulations covering the extraction of CBD from industrial hemp will be amended along with other policy changes this summer. A dealer license would allow the company to legally manufacture, package, run lab tests on and import and export CBD, among a variety of other benefits.
There is a clear difference between a licensed dealer and licensed producer insomuch as licensed producers are limited in formulations, restricted from adding additives critical to making edibles, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, etc. Licensed dealers are allowed to make said products.
Naturally Splendid CEO Douglas Mason refers to contracting Cannabis Compliance as a strategic move in the evolution of the business with consideration to the changing Canadian marijuana environment and a global shift towards recognizing CBD for its medicinal benefits.
The company expects the entire process to obtain a dealer license to take about four months.
NSP investors are signaling their approval of the move, driving shares up 7.14% to 30 cents in early afternoon action on Tuesday.
