The news comes at the same that the governor of New York is pushing for the legalisation of weed in the state.
A referendum will take place alongside New Zealand's next general election in 2020 that will decide whether or not cannabis should be legal for recreational use.
According to
BBC, a vote was promised by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's Labour Party last year during cross-party talks, which helped to form a coalition government. It comes a week after lawmakers gave medicinal cannabis the green light.
An opinion poll last year suggested two thirds of New Zealanders favoured legalisation of the drug.
Recently,
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has been pushing for the legalisation of recreational marijuana use in the state.
Speaking as he laid out the upcoming legislative agenda for the first 100 days of 2019 at the New York City Bar Association on Monday, Cuomo said: "Let's legalise the adult use of recreational marijuana once and for all."
Canada recently became the second country in the world to completely legalise the use of marijuana, as the bill passed their House of Commons in October.
