New Zealand (Jurisdiction Profile)
Jurisdiction Identity
Cannabis Framework
| Dimension |
Status |
| Adult-use possession |
Prohibited (2020 legalization referendum did not pass) |
| Adult-use cultivation |
Prohibited |
| Adult-use commercial supply |
Not legal |
| Medical access |
Medicinal cannabis by prescription under the Medicinal Cannabis Scheme (2018 Act, scheme operational from April 2020) |
| Pharmaceutical cannabinoid access |
Products meeting the minimum quality standard; some unapproved medicines via exemption pathways |
| Home cultivation |
Prohibited (licensed cultivation only) |
| Import/export |
Regulated under the Scheme (licensed cultivation/manufacture/import) |
Regulatory Overview
New Zealand’s Medicinal Cannabis Scheme (Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Act 2018; operational April 2020) is administered by a Medicinal Cannabis Agency within the Ministry of Health, with Medsafe assessing products against a minimum quality standard. A 2020 referendum on adult-use legalization failed. Licensed cultivation, manufacture, and import supply the market; no public per-batch COA database was located.
Data Surface
| Data surface |
Available? |
Official source |
Machine-readable? |
Notes |
| License registry |
partial |
Ministry licensed producers list |
no |
Licensed businesses published; no API located |
| Testing-laboratory registry |
no public source located |
— |
— |
No distinct public list located |
| Laboratory testing rules |
yes |
Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Regulations 2019 |
no |
Codified requirements incl. minimum quality standard |
| Contaminant/action limits |
yes |
Minimum quality standard (MQS) |
no |
Set in regulations |
| Recalls/advisories |
partial |
Medsafe safety communications |
partial |
Medicines safety alerts |
| Product/package identifiers |
partial |
Medsafe minimum-quality products list |
partial |
Published list of qualifying products |
| COAs/batch results |
no public source located |
— |
— |
Not public |
| Sales data |
no public source located |
— |
— |
No open reporting located |
| Open-data downloads |
no public source located |
— |
— |
No cannabis open-data portal located |
Sources & Provenance
Graph Connections
No existing repository entities are linked to New Zealand. The page is discoverable from the Jurisdictions index.