Is Cannabis / THC legal in New Zealand?

Also known as: weed, marijuana

Legal status

Controlled, and split across two classes, which is the fact most English accounts of New Zealand get wrong. The Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 places cannabis preparations in Class B and the cannabis plant in Class C, so oil or resin and plant material are not the same question and do not carry the same ceiling. New Zealand did not legalise recreational cannabis. Limited medical and palliative exceptions exist and they do not create a general market. Sections 6, 7 and 7A are the operative provisions, and the section 7 prosecution discretion toward a health-centred response is discretion rather than decriminalisation. The reading is against the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 consolidation current at 20 September 2026, whose latest commenced classification instrument is the Misuse of Drugs (Classification and Presumption of Supply) Order 2025, in force from 27 November 2025.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. There is no death penalty in New Zealand, and life under section 6 is reserved for Class A, which cannabis is not in either of its forms. Section 6 caps dealing in a Class B cannabis preparation at 14 years and dealing in the Class C plant at 8 years. Possession carries lower maxima under section 7, and the prosecution discretion that section directs does not make possession lawful. The practical trap is that converting plant material into oil or resin moves the same person from the 8 year ceiling to the 14 year one.

If prescribed or medical

Not established for a traveller. This dossier carries no country-level rule for entering New Zealand with a prescribed medicine: it records that medicines status has to be checked alongside the analogue exclusions and the Psychoactive Substances Act 2013 route, and that a court-grade conclusion can turn on the medicine exclusions, but it states no declaration requirement, no permit, no quantity allowance and no carry limit at the border, and none was researched for this cell. What is established is the placement a traveller would be read against: cannabis is split between Schedules 2 and 3, preparations at Class B and plant material at Class C, and the dossier records limited medical and palliative exceptions without stating any rule for bringing a supply into the country. Do not read that placement as a ruling on a lawfully prescribed and lawfully carried supply, which is a different question this cell does not answer. Settle the border question with the Ministry of Health, whose classification order implementation page this dossier cites, and with the New Zealand border authority, before travelling.

Documentation

Carry the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 consolidation current at 20 September 2026 and expect it to give two answers rather than one, since the plant and the preparations made from it sit in different schedules. Read both the Schedule 2 and the Schedule 3 cannabis wording, and read section 7A as well, because a single class answer for cannabis is wrong in New Zealand. Carry section 7A alongside sections 6 and 7, since the dossier names all three for this row and only this row. Carry the classification chain this finding was read against as well: the 2022 and 2025 Classification and Presumption of Supply Orders with their commencement orders, the 2024 pseudoephedrine amendment, and the 2026 Order, which was made but is not treated as law in this dossier because its own section 2 leaves commencement to the Governor-General and no commencement instrument was located by the horizon. Carry the date as well, 20 September 2026, because in New Zealand a classification order can move a substance between classes without a word of the Act changing.

Drug laws and enforcement change and vary within a country. This is not legal advice. Always confirm with New Zealand’s embassy or official drug authority before traveling; penalties can be severe, including imprisonment.