PERTH researchers are to test whether medical cannabis can pave a breakthrough in the treatment of pancreatic cancer, one of the most lethal diseases on the planet.

Curtin University’s School of Biomedical Sciences is poised to start testing cannabis formulations against human pancreatic cell cancer lines grown in the laboratory.

The project is in collaboration with Zelda Therapeutics, a Perth-based biopharmaceutical company, which will import the cannabis from Canada.

The research will examine the usefulness of cannabis formulations as standalone treatments and in combination with existing chemotherapy drugs, such as Abraxane.

Medicinal cannabis advocates are pleading for compassion and urging Australian authorities to legalise the drug to help ease the pain and suffering of those who desperately need it.

It follows the South Australian police raid on Adelaide supplier Jenny Hallam's property last week that sparked an outcry from families who rely on her for the supply of cannabis oil.

Concerned parents have expressed fears for the lives of dozens of sick Queensland children following raids on a South Australian cannabis oil producer.

Police yesterday raided Jenny Hallam's property at Hillier and seized chemicals and other substances for forensic testing, but no charges have yet been laid.

The raids sparked outrage as Ms Hallam supplied cannabis oil products, at no cost, to hundreds of sick Australians.

Steve Peek from Brisbane said his eight-year-old daughter Suli relies on Ms Hallam's cannabis oil to control her seizures.

"We only have enough to last until next week," he told the ABC.

The annual turnover of the cannabis market in Australia is estimated to be bigger than our wine market. But unlike our wine market, not a cent of Australia’s cannabis is taxed.

In 2014-15, 66,309 people were arrested in Australia for possessing cannabis. The number of people arrested for cannabis consumer offences increased more than 40% between 2004-5 and 2014-15. No one knows what it costs to police cannabis possession and charge and process the large number of people charged every year with minor cannabis offences. But it would not be cheap.

Citing Australia’s onerous security requirements for growing medical cannabis, prominent Australian industrial hemp grower Ecofibre announced it will move its medical cannabis capabilities from Australia to the United States.

A Canadian cannabis-tech company is readying a January ASX listing, capitalising on Australia’s recent move to legalise the manufacturing of medical cannabis.

RotoGro CEO Adam Clode said his system is a cheap, quick and effective way of achieving massive medical cannabis yields, and he calls it the future of indoor growing equipment.

The equipment can be loaded with up to 420 cannabis plants in a single system.

Mr Clode told The Australian cannabis stocks in Australia have been going gangbusters since it became legal to cultivate and manufacture medical cannabis from November 1.

Australia might be called the lucky country, but luck has not been with the Victorian people when it comes to cannabis. Despite being one of the most progressive Australian states, with one of the most progressive state governments in the country, cannabis is still perceived by the Victorian Government as largely harmful to society.

As a Victorian MP and leader of the Australian Sex Party, I've long advocated for change, with taxation and regulation of cannabis a founding party policy. I even moved a motion in the Victorian upper house earlier this year to try and make that happen. The six-to-32 loss did, at least, start a conversation about the lack of rational for keeping cannabis illegal.

MEDICINAL cannabis crops on the outskirts of Perth will become a reality in 2017.

Though don’t expect to see fields of cannabis plants on the city’s fringes because the “discreet” and “hard to access” facilities will employ military-style security to keep intruders out.

WA-based companies AusCann and MGC Pharma both want to cultivate and manufacture medicinal cannabis here.

AusCann said it would this week lodge a licence application to grow the drug at a secret site near Perth. MGC Pharma isn’t far behind.

Ideal weather conditions mean WA is well-placed to get a slice of the legal market.

A SX-listed MGC Pharmaceuticals has executed a new and materially better binding heads of agreement to acquire Czech-based medical cannabis company Panax Pharma in a move likely to be a big boost to MGC’s production and research capabilities.

In an update to the market on Thursday, MGC said that following due diligence it had executed the revised acquisition agreement, which would see the Perth-based company acquire up to 100 per cent of Panax –a highly connected player in the Czech Republic’s medicinal cannabis industry.