Hemp gummies are increasingly appearing in online searches, but “hemp gummies” can mean very different products. In New Zealand, it is important to understand the difference between a food made from hemp seed ingredients and gummies containing CBD or other cannabinoids.
What Are Hemp Gummies?
A hemp food gummy could potentially contain permitted hemp-seed ingredients, such as hemp seed oil or hemp seed protein. Hemp seeds and qualifying hemp-seed foods can legally be sold as food in New Zealand when they meet food-safety and cannabinoid limits.
Hemp seeds themselves do not provide the intoxicating or therapeutic effects associated with cannabis.
What About CBD Gummies?
CBD gummies are different from ordinary hemp-seed foods.
CBD is regulated as a medicine in New Zealand. Medicinal cannabis products containing CBD are available in pharmaceutical forms, but the Ministry of Health says medicinal cannabis products are generally supplied through the medicinal-cannabis regulatory pathway.
So a product advertised online as a “hemp gummy” should not automatically be assumed to be a legal NZ CBD product.
Check the Label Carefully
New Zealand has particularly strict rules for hemp foods. Advertising and labels for hemp-seed foods cannot make therapeutic claims about CBD, state CBD concentrations, use the word “cannabis”, or display most parts of the cannabis plant.
Before buying hemp gummies, check the ingredients, NZ supplier, manufacturer and product claims.
For medicinal CBD products, use legitimate New Zealand healthcare and pharmacy channels rather than assuming overseas gummies can legally be shipped to New Zealand. The Ministry of Health states that personal importation of CBD products by mail is prohibited.
Important: This article provides general educational information and is not medical or legal advice.
