New South Wales Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair says the state applied to the Federal Government for a license to grow cannabis for medical research trials.  This comes two and a half months after the federal government passed legislation to legalize and license cannabis cultivation.

Right now, medical marijuana has to be imported from the UK or Canada.  But Mr. Blair believes that Tamworth in northern NSW would be an ideal place for Australia to cultivate its own bud.

"We might even have to start the cultivation ourselves, as a Government, on (Department of Primary Industries) sites, so that we can progress this as quickly as we can," Blair told the ABC.  "I know there's a lot of people advocating for it to be done in Tamworth and that's something we're looking closely at, but we need to make sure we understand the requirements on our license and make sure the facilities meet those requirements."

Any legal grow operation would have benchmarks to meet, such as high fencing, a CCTV security system, and individual labeling of plants.