New Zealand is a signator to the UN Conventions and thus controls most traditional recreational substances as other countries do. In August 2013, New Zealand passed the Psychoactive Substances Law that creates a new legal status for new psychoactive drugs used for recreational purposes by which vendors will be allowed to distribute products containing new, not yet controlled, recreationally-used substances to those 18 and older. Vendors will be required to pay an initial registration fee, demonstrate the basic safety of their products, and track adverse reactions after sales begin.

Since the late 1990s, New Zealand has been experimenting with different methods of regulating new drugs, with the New Zealand Ministry of Health allowing the sale of BZP as an experimental method of reducing the demand for methamphetamine (and polluted ecstasy). As the Research Chemical markets grew, New Zealand realized that it was facing ongoing waves of new drugs