A group of federal politicians say national uniform legislation is needed so that states can amend their own laws and allow access to medicinal marijuana.

A woman whose son lost his battle with cancer earlier this year has pleaded for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to support laws to create a national framework that would pave the way for terminally ill patients and others to access medicinal marijuana.

Lucy Haslam, who has long been at the forefront of a campaign to legalise medicinal cannabis, on Monday joined a cross-party group of senators and MPs in Canberra to push for laws that would have provided her son Daniel relief from the debilitating nausea he had been suffering as a result of chemotherapy.

Medicinal cannabis could be legally grown and prescribed to patients as early as next year under a cross party bill that has attracted initial support from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Greens leader, senator Richard Di Natale, announced on Monday that the bill to create a regulator for medicinal cannabis for certain conditions had been drafted and would be put before the Senate for a vote in November.

While Victoria and NSW state governments had indicated that they wanted to legalise medicinal cannabis, a federal regulatory scheme was required to do this: "We need national laws to make sure we can licence growers … that doctors can prescribe this and that the medication gets in the hands of patients who need it."

A discovery of a feral pig munching on a cannabis plant has led police to arrest a man allegedly growing the drug on Queensland's Darling Downs.

Police said they were called to a property at Meringandan West, north Toowoomba, last Wednesday to investigate a disturbance.

There, they said they discovered the feral pig chewing leafy green material, which turned out to be cannabis.

Due to the size of the pig, officers did not try to seize the plants.

A 1.6-metre-tall plant and 140 grams of the drug were eventually recovered, police said.

A 44-year-old man will appear in the Oakey Magistrates Court later this month charged with drug production and possession.

Somewhere in Victoria sits a highly guarded building that will soon become the home of Australia's first government-sanctioned cannabis crop.

Here, in a research facility shrouded in secrecy, change is coming.

For bio-security reasons, the location of the site remains confidential, but over the next few years, a handful of selected officials will lay the groundwork for a hydroponic scheme that can vastly improve lives.

If all goes according to plan, the state will be growing and distributing its own medicinal cannabis by early 2017, first for about 450 children with severe epilepsy, and eventually, for a range of adults suffering profound pain from diseases such cancer, HIV/AIDS, or multiple sclerosis.

Parents are outraged about a product called Cannabis Energy Drink that went on sale at some supermarkets last week, claiming it irresponsibly promotes marijuana as a harmless drug.

Mother-of-two Simone Calnon said local supermarkets selling the Austrian drink were normalising cannabis by making it appear as if it was a regular item that belonged on a shop shelf.

She said the energy drink gave young children the impression marijuana was safe, despite it having been linked to health problems including anxiety, depression and schizophrenia.

The energy drink contains hemp-seed extract but is deemed legal because it does not include THC, the main mind-altering ingredient of marijuana.

Evidence of the effectiveness of medicinal cannabis in treating a number of conditions is overwhelming and it should be made available for those conditions immediately, Senator Richard Di Natale says. Photo: supplied

Richard Di Natale​ is forging ahead with his bid to legalise medical marijuana and warns the Turnbull government would be foolish to stand in the way.

The Greens leader will ask the Senate to vote on his bill – co-sponsored by Liberal, Labor and crossbench senators – next month and he's calling on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to get on board to ensure its success.

Senator Di Natale will personally press Mr Turnbull for his support when the pair meet in Canberra this week.

An illegal immigrant linked to a large-scale cannabis grow house network operating in Canberra has been deported despite warnings he could never face justice for his alleged involvement. 

Ong Yap, 35, pleaded not guilty to participating in a criminal group in the ACT Magistrates Court earlier this year after police arrested him under Operation Armscote.

He was charged over his alleged role in the extensive hydroponic set-ups that ACT Policing said had netted 1226 plants with an estimated street value of more than $7 million seized from rental properties.

Yap, a Malaysian national, was released on bail in July despite complications that stemmed from the fact that he was in the country illegally and had overstayed his visa by more than a year. 

Victorian pharmacists will play a pivotal role under proposals announced by the Victorian Government to make medicinal cannabis available to some patients under exceptional circumstances from 2017, says the PSA.

Acting National President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, Michelle Lynch, says that under the new regulations, pharmacists will dispense medicinal cannabis after authorisation is provided by medical specialists.

“Having pharmacists acknowledged as best-placed to dispense medicinal cannabis is welcomed as it ensures that medicines experts are available to advise and counsel patients using these products,” Lynch says.

People taking medicinal cannabis will need to be given advice about the potential long-term side-effects, an expert says.

Dr Michael Farrell, director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, says the report on which the Victorian Government’s decision was based was “very well crafted and detailed presenting a balanced view of current research evidence and presents options for moving forward and for improving access to treatment”.

“However if medical use is likely to be long term, patients should be advised that the adverse effects of long term use are unclear,” he says.