Medical marijuana would be grown under licence from the federal government under a legalisation plan to be introduced to parliament next week by three MPs from the major parties and Greens.
Under the bill, a new regulator separate from the Therapeutic Goods Administration would oversee the growing and supply of medical marijuana and determine the conditions for which it could be prescribed.
The bill will be jointly backed by three MPs from a cross-party working group on drug policy: Green Richard Di Natale; Labor's Melissa Parke and Victorian Liberal Sharman Stone.
"Let's be grown up about this," said Ms Stone. "We should allow those currently suffering cruel deaths to have access to medicinal cannabis.
"It isn't new. It isn't innovative. It's just Australia catching up."
The Senate private member's bill will not compel states to legalise medicinal marijuana. But it aims to solve the contentious issue of how it can be supplied and create a federal model that states can adopt through mirror legislation.
"We should have consistent regulation throughout the country as the PBS is under federal jurisdiction," Ms Stone said.
The proposed regulator would be staffed by experts relating to every aspect of growing and dispensing marijuana, from horticulturalists to pharmacologists.
"We've got to take the issue out of the hands of politicians," said medical doctor Mr Di Natale. "We tried to come up with a model that reflected some of the best international models for delivering medical cannabis."
Ms Stone dismissed further clinical trials as "time wasting" and pointed to evidence about the effectiveness of medical marijuana from countries such as Canada and Israel.
The MPs will brief their colleagues on the plan on Wednesday and have expressed confidence they can move it through the parliament.
"Momentum is everything and it's building," Dr Di Natale said.
Medical marijuana advocates took heart from a letter from the Prime Minister Tony Abbott to talkback host Alan Jones earlier this year in which he expressed support for decriminalisation.
"I have no problem with the medical use of cannabis," Mr Abbott wrote.
The Prime Minister's office has previously said decriminalisation was a matter for the states but referred questions about the bill to Health Minister Peter Dutton, whose office did not respond to questions.
The Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten, who is yet to see the plan, said while medical marijuana provided relief for the ill its safety and effectiveness needed further study.
"Labor certainly supports jurisdictions that want to hold clinical trials," he said.
Specially-grown medicinal strains can control or eliminate the drug's psychoactive component, THC and can be distributed as a tincture, or pharmaceutical extract.
The proposal for action on the federal level comes as NSW investigates decriminalising medical cannabis. The state government will announce guidelines for a clinical trial in coming weeks that could lead to decriminalisation.
