Prescribing medicinal cannabis in New Zealand
This is a summary of the regulatory position, not clinical guidance.
Who can prescribe
A medical practitioner, nurse practitioner or pharmacist prescriber registered to practise in New Zealand can prescribe a verified medicinal cannabis product. No special licence is required and no approval from the Ministry of Health is needed.
What "verified" means
A product is verified when the Medicinal Cannabis Agency has confirmed it meets the minimum quality standard.
Please note that the minimum quality standard is an assessment of quality, not of safety or efficacy. It confirms a product contains the stated amount of active ingredient and is free of contaminants. It does not tell you how a product works, or for whom.
These are unapproved medicines
Verified products have not been assessed by Medsafe for safety and efficacy and are not consented medicines. The usual obligations that attach to prescribing an unapproved medicine apply.
The plant material that goes into our medicines is grown in New Zealand to our specification by NZ Grow Co., our cultivation company within the Ora Pharm group. Raw material is transported to our Auckland base where it is manufactured into cannabinoid medicines.
Our facility is certified to GMP standards. Every batch is tested for potency, purity, microbiological contamination, heavy metals and mycotoxins, and released with a certificate of analysis.
The healthcare professional portal
The Helius HCP portal is a password protected resource library for New Zealand healthcare professionals. New Zealand law does not permit us to publish product information where the public can read it, so this is where you will find it once you request access. You can find it here.
YOUR INFORMATION SOURCE
What you will find in the portal
Safety, precautions and interactions.
What to check before you prescribe or dispense.
Patient discussion guides.
Printable, plain English, able to be shared with your patients.
Product monographs and consumer medicine information.
Full details for everything we make.
Dosing guidelines
Information to assist you when planning a prescription.
A forum.
Where New Zealand prescribers and pharmacists compare notes with each other.
Visit requests.
Request an education visit from our team.
Getting access
Registration takes about two minutes. We verify your registration against the relevant register and confirm your access. We aim to process all access requests within 72 hours, and may phone you for verification.
We ask for your name, your registration body and number, your practice or pharmacy, and an email address. Your details are held securely and will never be used for sales or marketing purposes.
Medical information enquiries
If you have a clinical question about one of our medicines, ask us through our contact page or phone 0800 66 11 44.
Our support team will either answer your question directly, or connect you with an experienced medicinal cannabis prescriber for advice.
This is a medical information service, not a sales line. When contacting us you will never be contacted by a member of our sales team, unless you request to speak to them.