NSW Labor supports medicinal cannabis

The law should be changed as soon as possible to make it legal for people suffering terminal illness to be treated with medicinal cannabis, NSW opposition leader Luke Foley says.

Speaking on Sunday, Mr Foley called for a "more ambitious" legal approach than the NSW Government's plan to give police the discretion not to charge terminally-ill cannabis users.

"The law should disappear from the statute books," Mr Foley told reporters in Strathfield.

"I'd like to see us cross party lines here and change the law so that the terminally ill and their loved ones need never fear prosecution.

"I want to ... give people experiencing terrible pain and suffering some hope."

Mr Foley said he wanted the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act changed "as a matter of urgency" in the first siting week of parliament after the March state election.

He said if a state trial on medicinal cannabis were to take place, "it should be far quicker than what's envisaged in NSW".

"I think we can go forward without a trial, personally," Mr Foley added.

He said he had not yet talked to NSW Premier Mike Baird about the issue.