Data on the supply of unapproved medicinal cannabis products in New Zealand

About this data

Under section 29 of the Medicines Act 1981 (the Act), suppliers of unapproved medicinal cannabis products must report details of the supply to Medsafe. The data published below is based on these reporting requirements and provides information on the number of packs supplied that contain either cannabidiol (CBD) or tetrahydrocannabidiol (THC), or both CBD and THC as the primary active ingredient. For information on the supply and use of unapproved medicines, see the section on unapproved medicines on the Medsafe website. 

As the required reporting is retrospective, the data is at least two months in arrears. For example, the data published in September 2024 is for information received by Medsafe about supply up to 30 June 2024.

This information is published under the provisions of the Official Information Act 1982.

When reviewing the data, please note the following.

• The number of packs supplied cannot be used to determine the number of prescriptions issued, the number of patients taking medicinal cannabis products or the number of doses.
• The accuracy of the published data depends on the quality of the information reported to Medsafe.
• The already-published data may change over time if Medsafe receives additional information.
• The data does not include CBD, THC or combination CBD/THC products that have been granted consent for supply as a medicine under section 20 of the Act (such as Sativex or Epidyolex).
• The data does not include information on medicines imported for a named patient by an authorised prescriber under section 25 of the Act.
• The data may include cannabis plant-derived products that meet the minimum quality standard under the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Regulations 2019 and non-cannabis plant-derived products (ie, synthetic products) that meet the definition of a CBD product in section 2A of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975. 
• The data published may differ from information supplied previously in Official Information Act (OIA) responses. There are two reasons for this. Some companies have been late submitting their section 29 reports; and/ or the reports from some companies have referred to their product as containing both CBD and THC when only one of those ingredients is considered the primary active ingredient.  

Data on the supply of unapproved cannabis products