Starting tomorrow, new Federal Legislative changes are coming into effect which will lay the foundations for the cultivation, manufacture and use of medicinal cannabis. It is still up to each state and territory to decide what they will do with the changes, and if they will allow the use of medicinal cannabis and for people to start growing it. The recreational use of marijuana remains illegal. However, this change is hoped to offer some reprieve to desperate patients who are dealing with severe and often life-shortening illnesses. Advocates and patients fear red tape will mean the widespread legal availability of medicinal cannabis could be a decade away.