Is Heroin legal in New Zealand?

Also known as: diacetylmorphine, smack

Legal status

Controlled, and named rather than inferred. Schedule 1 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 names or describes heroin, a semi-synthetic opioid also called diamorphine, as a Class A controlled drug, and the entry carries the derivatives and preparations limb attached to it. 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. Morphine, from which it is made, has its own row here and sits a class lower in Schedule 2, so the derivative carries a life ceiling where the parent carries 14 years. This was read against the consolidation current at 20 September 2026; the 2026 Classification and Presumption of Supply Order was made but no commencement instrument was located by that horizon, so nothing it proposes is treated as law here.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. The death penalty was abolished in New Zealand. What section 6 carries for heroin, a Class A controlled drug, is a maximum of life imprisonment for import, manufacture or supply, and nothing about that term is mandatory. Section 7 sets the possession maximum at 6 months, the highest possession figure in the Act. A Schedule 5 quantity raises a presumption of supply and does not decide the sentence. Section 6 lists import separately from supply, which matters here because carrying a quantity across the border engages the ceiling without any sale being alleged.

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: heroin is a Class A controlled drug under Schedule 1, with sections 6 and 7 supplying the offences. Opioid substitution in New Zealand runs through the methadone and buprenorphine rows of this table rather than this one, so no prescribing question arises on this entry. 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 1 heroin entry beside the Schedule 2 morphine entry, because the class gap between the two is the practical point. Carry the class and the ceiling as two separate readings, because Schedule 1 supplies the class for heroin 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.