Nicholas Morley and his associate Luke don't need to spend a cent on advertising for their service that's attracted more than 15,000 Australians.

Actually, even if they wanted to advertise, they can't.

"We've never gone looking for attention," Luke told Hack, "They've just come to us."

Nick and Luke's work isn't conventional by any means - they spend their days openly breaking the law to supply medicinal cannabis oil to chronic and terminally ill patients around the country.

Even though medicinal cannabis is now legal in Australia, Nick and Luke say the government-run scheme is often hampered by red tape, long waiting times, and prohibitive out-of-pocket costs.

Which is where their underground operation - where customers pay for Nick and Luke's service, not the cannabis itself - comes in.

"We try and just look at this as a health issue and as a human rights issue more so than a criminal issue," Nick says.

"We carry that duty with as much grace as we can in the face of the situation as it is - it being illegal, what we're doing."

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'Green Light' film reveals Nick and Luke's operation

Green Light, a new documentary produced and directed by Ned Donohue, follows Nick and Luke's work as medicinal cannabis suppliers for patients who have tried "everything else".

The pair supply and treat a man with a genetic bone disease, a baby with cancer, and even a horse - among many other patients.

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Nick, who self-medicated cannabis for his depression, said the drug was a "game-changer" for his health, and realised there must be more people like him out there.

"If the government's not going to make it available, someone's got to do it," Nick says.

Since starting their operation, the federal government has made medicinal cannabis legal, but Nick and Luke say they've supplied more patients with cannabis oil than the federal Special Access scheme.

Nick and Luke admit that they're not doctors, and they encourage all their clients to speak to their doctor before using the cannabis oil they're supplied with.

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"We're not registered healthcare professionals and our training, I would say is not adequate. Nor is it comparable to that of a doctor, for instance," Luke explains.

"A doctor is trying to make very highly educated guesses. Now we make guesses based on experience and support of the medical professionals and other people out there who help us to make these decisions.

"But is it a worry? Yes. Do we feel like the medicines themselves are unsafe? No, because the medicine we use, the cannabis oil extracts are GMP certified, they're organic sun grind, they're actually of higher quality than what the legal people are able to provide at this point in time."

Luke says he hopes their phones "stop ringing" - it'll be a signal that their job is done, and the government-run scheme is working. But for now, there's still a gap.

We wouldn't keep doing it unless there are some people who survived beyond all the odds, and are able to then go out and live lives that they wouldn't have otherwise had.

Nick and Luke both admit that with the release of Green Light, in cinemas from Thursday, authorities could come knocking to shut their operation down. Luke says he hopes the police's "discretionary powers" keep them from facing charges.

"I hope that they can see that there's far greater issues out there like methamphetamine - the widespread use and abuse of that. There's an ice epidemic in Northern NSW."

For Nick, stopping their medicinal cannabis service would be worse than a criminal charge.

"I'd feel like a criminal if I stopped doing it," Nick says in Green Light.