Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne's decision to delegate responsibility for all cannabis-based product prescriptions to the Ministry of Health represents a win for medicinal marijuana campaigners.

However, local cannabis law reform advocate Glenn Grayston believes more can be done to relax the laws.

'It's a tentative step in the right direction. Of course it doesn't go nearly far enough.”

He believes an extract sold by a pharmaceutical company, such as Sativex, does not have the same therapeutic benefits as the whole plant.

'In a lot of cases, Sativex is effective and suitable, but there are many cases where the maximum benefit is from the whole plant.

'My view is probably a lot more radical than the mainstream, but I think people should be able to grow a couple plants for their own personal use. That's where I see it heading.”

Glenn isn't a medicinal cannabis user himself. But when his father was suffering from extreme arthritis pain, he imported an expensive cannabis-based product from overseas to help.

He also grew some plants himself.

'He had some fused vertebrae in his neck, which caused him a lot of pain. I grew a couple plants and made a whole-plant extract mixed with coconut oil and gave him that to manage his arthritis pain.

'It worked just as well as the expensive stuff I imported from overseas.”

He says there's a great deal of misinformation around cannabis, and doesn't think it deserves to be lumped in with other harder, synthetic drugs.

'People talk about methamphetamine and cannabis in the same breath, and they're not the same. I believe meth is the most dangerous substance on the planet – it comes from a laboratory.

'I'm not religious person, but cannabis is a God-given herb and it does have healing benefits.”

Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller has also declared his support for changes to the government's medicinal cannabis policy.

'I am fully supportive of moving the decision making away from politicians to the Ministry of Health,” he says.

'Guidelines have been developed, consulted on, and simplified to allow specialists who are interested in accessing such products for their patients a clear, common-sense and unobstructed way to do so.”

He says his position comes from seeing people in his electorate who are suffering from chronic pain.

'They are not seeking these products for a recreational purpose. They are suffering, and deserve an opportunity for compassion and relief.”