Jenny Hallam had been staring down the barrel of seven years in jail when cops raided her South Australian property in January 2017. She'd been supplying cannabis oil, free of charge, to chronically ill patients.

Earlier this month, Jenny was spared a conviction and managed to escape jail time, even though she pled guilty to possessing and manufacturing a controlled drug.

She isn't supplying cannabis illegally anymore, but she's calling for major changes in the system. She reckons the current one isn't working as it should.

"We still have thousands of people contacting the illegal healers, the black market producers," she told Hack.

They're still getting requests constantly, every single day for the black market oil, because they can not access it legally.

In 2016, the Federal Government changed the laws to let doctors prescribe medicinal cannabis for certain conditions through the Therapeutic Goods Administration - that's the body that has oversight over medication.

But how patients get it is still up to the states and territories.

"The Government has to completely restructure the access pathways they have at the moment. They're not working. Every state has a different access pathway," Jenny explained.

"Queensland has the best pathway at the moment... but in South Australia, we're virtually getting nothing here. There are only a handful of doctors if that who are willing to prescribe it."

'Confusing red tape'

The Senate voted to establish an inquiry into barriers to accessing medicinal cannabis on Thursday.

It'll look at everything from how much it costs via the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, how well trained doctors are in prescribing it, how hard cannabis is to grow, and whether the states and territory laws are compatible with each other.

"I've heard from hundreds of people in the community who were given hope when the parliament legalised medicinal cannabis in 2016, only to have had their hopes dashed when they tried to fight through endless layers of confusing red tape," Greens leader Richard Di Natale, who will chair the inquiry, said.

"This inquiry will uncover the failures of the current medicinal cannabis system through the Therapeutic Goods Administration, look into whether doctors have the information they need to prescribe it, and whether patients have access to the medicine they need."

The inquiry wants to hear from you. If you've had difficulty accessing medicinal cannabis - or alternatively, found the process really easy, then you can put in a public submission here.

(If the thought of making an official submission seems daunting, don't worry - the Parliament House website has a handy explainer on how to do it right.)

You've got until 17 January to put in a submission.

The final report into accessing medicinal cannabis will be released in February.