Is Cathinone legal in New Zealand?

Legal status

Controlled, and named rather than inferred. Schedule 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 names or describes cathinone, the principal stimulant alkaloid of the khat plant, as a Class B controlled drug, and the entry reaches its named salt, preparation or mixture. New Zealand's list is closed for named substances, so a named entry settles the class without recourse to the section 2 controlled-drug-analogue limb that carries sixteen other rows in this table. Khat has its own row here and is not established as a controlled drug on the text cited, so the plant and its alkaloid do not answer alike in this dossier. The consolidation read was the one current at 20 September 2026, with the Order of 2025 commenced on 27 November 2025 as the latest instrument actually in force.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. The death penalty does not exist in New Zealand law. Section 6 carries a maximum of 14 years for dealing in a Class B controlled drug, which is the class cathinone sits in, and section 7 carries 3 months for possession. The Act sets ceilings, and Schedule 5 sets a presumption of supply rather than a tariff. The figures above attach to the named alkaloid, while the khat row of this same table records the leaf it comes from as a closed-list absence. The two rows therefore point in opposite directions, and neither of them, nor the source read here, settles what a preparation or extract made from that leaf is charged on.

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: cathinone is a Class B controlled drug under Schedule 2, with sections 6 and 7 supplying the offences. No dispensed form of the alkaloid arises, and a person carrying leaf meets the khat row of this table, which records a finding of its own rather than a route back to this one. 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, which is the official New Zealand Legislation text rather than a secondary summary. Read the Schedule 2 cathinone entry and the khat row of this same table as two separate findings, and do not read either one as a chain into the other. Carry the class and the ceiling as two separate readings, because Schedule 2 supplies the class for cathinone while sections 6 and 7 supply the maximum. 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.