Victoria Catherwood wants doctors to know about the health benefits of cannabis.

Medicinal cannabis users hope a new documentary will help educate doctors about the benefits of using the drug.

Kathrynne Maley is among them; the 26-year-old Temuka mother-of-three suffers from trigeminal neuralgia, a chronic nerve disorder that causes sharp unbearable pain.

"I would rather have three children over again than experience another bad episode," she said.

SUPPLIED Kathrynne Maley (L) suffers from trigeminal neuralgia, a nerve disorder that causes unbearable pain.

Cannabis helps relieve Maley's pain, however she has struggled to convince her medical specialists.

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It's left her trying to access the drug via the black market, which has added to the stress she already puts up with due to her condition.

ALDEN WILLIAMS/STUFF Shane Le Brun is concerned that desperate patients are forced to access cannabis illegally.

"It's scary," she said.

"I don't know people that do drugs, and I have one or two friends that can help me, but it's so uncertain."

Fifth-year Otago University medical student Victoria Catherwood hopes her documentary will help clear the path for desperate patients like Maley.

SUPPLIED Kathrynne Maley has decided to speak out to help others struggling to access cannabis.

"There's currently no official cannabis education in the medical teaching system," she said.

"We want to discuss medicinal cannabis use in New Zealand, and target it to doctors so that they can have informed conversations with their patients."

Around $3500 has already been donated via Pledgeme, toward a total goal of $9000 for producing the documentary.

Catherwood, who is currently on placement at Blenheim Hospital, first became involved with the medicinal cannabis debate after witnessing patients who benefited from using the drug.

However, she said many were discouraged by professionals.

"Patients would specifically ask whether medicinal cannabis would work for them, and doctors were really discouraging," she said.

Shane Le Brun is the founder of MC Awareness, a charity set up to raise awareness of the benefits of cannabis.

He said thousands of patients were missing out on beneficial treatment because their doctors were reluctant to consider prescribing or recommending the drug.

"They're just not being given the opportunity, because there's a lack of education around the issue," he said.

Sativex and Tilray are the only cannabis products approved for use in New Zealand, and neither is funded by Pharmac.

That makes them very expensive - and even for those who have the money, they're difficult to access.

Le Brun said many people were forced to go down an illegal route after being rejected by medical specialists.

"They then get hooked up with a 'green fairy', and within three months they're clear of all the opioids and narcotics, and then they have to get another referral back to the pain specialist to get legal," he said.

"So for some patients, the only way to get legal is to go illegal first to prove it works."

The term "green fairy" is used to describe cannabis growers and suppliers who network to help patients on compassionate grounds.

Catherwood thinks it's important the government acknowledges the reality of medicinal cannabis use in New Zealand.

She said it would be much safer to legalise and regulate the drug.

"We're hearing about elderly people who are assaulted while trying to find cannabis, and untested products can also be dangerous," she said.

"So if we can talk about this in the medical domain, then those harms can be minimised as much as possible."

Maley has had enough of trying to keep her medicinal cannabis use a secret, and decided to speak out to try and help others.

"I'm scared of the law, and I've been so scared of anybody finding out," she said.

"But now I'm ready to be free."