The public will get a chance to have a say on whether hemp, a plant of the cannabis family, should be grown for commercial and industrial use.
MPs in Parliament have voted 75 to 42 to send a member's bill from the Green MP Nandor Tanczos to a select committee for public submissions.
The Government has already approved a two-year trial of strictly controlled hemp plots to see if it is a viable crop.
Tanczos has told Parliament that hemp is not a drug, but can produce fabric, paper, building material and edible oils, and could be a boost for struggling regional economies.
However National, New Zealand First and United-Future voted against it, arguing a law change to allow hemp is just a Trojan horse to allow cannabis to be legalised.
Nandor Tanczos' bill was supported by Labour, the Alliance, the Greens and ACT.
If passed, the bill would remove industrial hemp from the Misuse of Drugs Act.
Marijuana and hemp both contain Tetra Hydra Cannabinol or THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.
Marijuana usually has a THC level of around 12-15%, but in industrial hemp the level is 1% or less.
In the European Union hemp may be grown only if it contains less than 0.3% THC, the level set in the proposed bill.
"Somebody would have to smoke a joint the size of a telegraph pole to feel any effect from industrial hemp," says Tanczos.
Hemp fibre has traditionally been used to make clothes, fabrics, ropes, paper, building materials, edible oils and fuel. Ships' sails and rigging were also made from hemp, due to its strength and durability.
"Captain Cook first sailed to Aotearoa on a hemp-powered ship, though that may be an argument against it," says Tanczos.
