Is Hemp Legal in New Zealand?

Industrial hemp cultivation, processing, and trade are legal in New Zealand under the Misuse of Drugs (Industrial Hemp) Regulations 2006, administered by the Ministry of Health. Growers, processors, researchers, and seed merchants must hold an industrial hemp licence, renewed annually, and crops must be cultivated from approved low-THC cultivars with leaf and flowering-head THC content not exceeding 0.35%. Licence holders must comply with site-security, record-keeping, and crop-destruction requirements for non-compliant material.

Hemp seed food products, including hulled hemp seeds, hemp seed oil, and hemp protein, have been lawful for human consumption in New Zealand since 12 November 2018, when amendments to Standard 1.4.4 of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code took effect. Foods must derive from low-THC Cannabis sativa, with THC limits set in the Food Standards Code (5 mg/kg in hemp seed oil and 10 mg/kg in other hemp seed foods). Hemp leaf, flower, and extracts other than seed-derived foods remain outside the food approval and are treated under the Medicinal Cannabis Scheme or the Misuse of Drugs Act.