Medicinal cannabis an option: minister

The federal health minister says allowing medicinal cannabis use is a definite option for the future.

But Sussan Ley says anybody considering it should "proceed with caution".

"It has to be tested, trialled, to be proven safe," she told reporters in Geelong on Wednesday.

The Victorian government is set to join New South Wales in a medical marijuana trials.

"If all the boxes are ticked ... then certainly it's an option for the future," Ms Ley said.

"We have to make sure substances are clinically effective."

It comes as AusCann Group Holdings struck a landmark deal with the Norfolk Island government to grow a high-grade medicinal strain of cannabis from November and export it to Canada by the middle of next year.