Victoria could soon grow its own medical marijuana to help legally treat people with life threatening and terminal illnesses.
Premier Daniel Andrews is preparing to announce a cannabis cultivation trial, potentially clearing the way for a state-based medicinal cannabis oil industry - an Australian first.
The announcement forms part of a pre-election promise to legalise medicinal cannabis oil in exceptional circumstances.
The Victorian Law Reform Commission has made recommendations to clear hurdles which currently restrict the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes.
The report is expected to be tabled in parliament in the next fortnight.
"I said during the campaign last year that we would drag this law into the 21st century and that no parent would have to make that terrible choice between saving their child and obeying the law," Mr Andrews told reporters on Friday.
"Victoria will lead the way on this, proudly."
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has thrown his support behind the idea, but said it needs to be done properly.
"I think we do need to see that it is grown and produced under proper circumstances, not just a free-for-all ... and if it's done properly, it will certainly get the opposition's support," he told reporters in Melbourne on Friday.
Australian Sex Party Leader Fiona Patten welcomed the news, but said strong measures needed to be in place to ensure Victoria didn't fall into a "slack Californian system" that sees the product "distributed on every street corner".
