New Zealand reclassifies legal status of CBD
If a CBD
product can be demonstrated to have a positive balance of risk and benefit in
terms of safety and effectiveness, it will be approved as meeting national and
international standards and can be supplied for legal sale to pharmacies.
Medsafe has
taken a step towards facilitating access to cannabidiol by allowing it to be
available over-the-counter in pharmacies, despite the widespread availability
of
It will be a
while before there are medicinal products containing this non-narcotic cannabinoid
in New Zealand.
Medsafe
reclassified cannabidiol (CBD) from a prescription-only drug to a restricted
drug (pharmacists only), following a similar approach with Australia, which
made similar changes in December 2020.
Although there
are currently no CBD products approved in New Zealand, this change means that
from the date of this decision, any low dose CBD product that is approved in
the future can be supplied to registered patients over 18 years of age. These
are mainly products that can be used to treat minor ailments.
The decision
followed Medsafe's careful review of the risk and benefit profile of low-dose
cannabidiol and included consultation with healthcare professionals, industry
and the public.
Representatives
of the New Zealand CBD industry note that the change in classification opens up
more opportunities for research into the clinical effectiveness and safety of
cannabidiol. This could subsequently create more opportunities for low-dose CBD
drugs to be approved.
Until now, the
main supply route for CBD into New Zealand has been through medicinal cannabis
products, which are not approved by Medsafe but meet the minimum quality
standards of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations (Medical Cannabis). This meant
that the plant's therapeutic properties could only be accessed by prescription
from a registered medical practitioner.
Making these
types of changes to the classification means that if a CBD product can be demonstrated
to have a positive balance of risk and benefit in terms of safety and effectiveness,
it will be approved as meeting national and international standards and can be
supplied for legal sale to pharmacies.
Commentary
from specialists of the Association “Ukrainian Industrial Hemp”
Medsafe - New
Zealand Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Authority.
In some
economically developed countries, there are clearly emerging trends indicating
that non-narcotic cannabinoids are gradually being transferred from the
category of strictly controlled substances used exclusively in pharmacological
preparations to therapeutically active raw materials used as the basis for
food, cosmetics, and various types of additives (biologically active,
nutritional, etc.).
