Medicinal Cannabis

There will be improved access to high quality medicinal cannabis with the proposed regulations for New Zealand’s medicinal cannabis scheme.

The scheme sets out who can produce medicinal cannabis, who can prescribe it and who can use it.

The scheme proposes:

• A wider range of medicinal cannabis products be made available. This would include products that are both imported and manufactured locally.
• Medical practitioners would not be restricted by a list of conditions for which they can prescribe medicinal cannabis and specialist sign-off will not be required for most prescriptions.

The new regulations will become operational in April 2020. A new Medical Cannabis Agency is being established to administer the scheme.