Australian state to grow cannabis for medical reason

The Victorian state of Australia is preparing to grow marijuana in a bid to treat a plethora of serious medical illnesses.

Fairfax Media reported on Friday that Victoria's state government would announce a cannabis "cultivation trial", which would allow for a medicinal cannabis oil industry to be based in the state.

The government promised that it would legalize cannabis oil to treat chronic pain for sufferers of cancer, Dravet Syndrome, HIV/ AIDS, glaucoma and Parkinson's disease, ahead of the 2014 state election.

Fairfax Media reported that cabinet ministers would meet in coming days to consider recommendations from a Victorian Law Reform Commission report, which outlines legal, medicinal, regulatory and jurisdictional hurdles the government must overcome to begin the trial.

"The government is preparing a detailed response and we will have more to say soon," Victoria's Health Minister Jill Hennessey told Fairfax Media on Friday.

"The government has been clear from the outset that we are committed to legalizing medicinal cannabis in exceptional circumstances, and we are getting on with delivering on our commitment to do so."

Presently, Victoria does not have the power to import cannabis unless the secretary of the health department grants exemption.

The strictness of the process and unreliable nature of commercial importation of cannabis have left the government with no other option but to grow the product within the state.

Fairfax Media believed that the growth and harvesting of marijuana would involve a strict licensing scheme, in the mould of Tasmania's regulation of poppy cultivation. Endi