An unemployed dental technician who grew marijuana in his backyard to treat a debilitating disease has avoided a conviction after a magistrate  decided to take a "compassionate" approach.

Marc Selan, 41, contracted ulcerative colitis - a disease that causes inflammation in the large intestine - in 2011 and turned his recreational use of marijuana into a therapeutic solution when he had an adverse reaction to traditional medications.

A Melbourne court heard on Thursday that Mr Selan's doctor unsuccessfully applied under the Therapeutic Goods Administration for an exemption to use marijuana for medical purposes.

Defence lawyer Avi Furstenberg produced in Melbourne Magistrates Court a letter from the doctor that confirmed his client "could not take standard medical treatments" for the disease.

Mr Furstenberg also read excerpts from a 2013 NSW standing committee, which considered that "medical cannabis has potential as an effective treatment for some medical conditions".

He told magistrate Luisa Bazzani the report said "cannabis products are emerging as a promising area of medicine, most notably in respect of a number of painful conditions that do not respond to existing treatments".

Prosecutor Senior Constable Neth Livett said when police raided Mr Selan's Murrumbeena house at on March 17 this year they saw a "backyard full of large cannabis plants", each about two metres tall later found to weigh a rootless 12.3 kilograms.

Senior Constable Livett said the plants were in pots labelled with names such as "Cream Caramel", "Ultra Lemon" and "Sour Spider" and that other items, including ground cannabis, buds, stems and plant branches were found.

"Police observed multiple videos on [Selam's] mobile phone where he is seen to pan around the backyard while giving a running commentary about the progress of the crop," he said.

Senior Constable Livett told Ms Bazzani that police accepted the drug was for Mr Selan's personal use and that he told investigators why he grew it and that he had used cannabis  for his condition.

Mr Selan pleaded guilty to a charge of cultivating while his wife, who was also arrested on the day, was assessed for the court's less formal diversion program.

Mr Furstenberg said Mr Selan plans to emigrate later this year to Spain, which has a more "liberal and scientific approach" to medical marijuana use.

Ms Bazzani agreed with Mr Furstenberg the case presented a "very unusual situation indeed", but she would not comment on the issue of the law and cannabis and current medical thinking and treatment.

Ms Bizzani did, however, accept the "highly unusual" nature of the case, noted that Mr Selan had no prior convictions, had been honest with police and was a family man who suffered a "terribly debilitating illness".

She felt "persuaded" by the submissions that she should take a "compassionate approach" given Mr Selan had used marijuana for "medical purposes" due to his ill health.

He was released on a non-conviction, undertaking to be of good behaviour for 12 months.

Outside court, Mr Selan told Fairfax Media that the symptoms of his disease "left me" when he used marijuana, and that when he ran out of "quality cannabis, my symptoms returned".

He researched "heaps" of scientific data that found marijuana could help regulate the immune system and "get rid of inflammation".

"It's amazing," said Mr Selan, who ate the marijuana in food or inhaled it. "The relief it gives you, the way it works ... It's the side effects of all the [other] drugs that totally allow you not to live."

The plants' names related to their "different genetic backgrounds" while the videoing was because "I was proud of what I was doing and the progress I was making and all the hard work I was putting in, and I just wanted to show my friends".

"I wasn't hiding anything," Mr Selan said. "I made medicine for myself to enable my health to continue."

He added: "To be criminalised for using cannabis as a medication is something I was really upset about and it is one of the main reasons why I am leaving Australia."

While NSW Premier Mike Baird is considering a private members' bill to legalise marijuana for medicinal purposes, in Victoria, both sides of politics remain opposed to any proposals to liberalise the laws. Health minister David Davis has repeatedly stated the need for greater scientific evidence before cannabis could be approved for medical use, and the opposition has also stated that it has "no plans to amend Victoria's drug laws to decriminalise marijuana".

Victorian couple Cassie Batten and Rhett Wallace face possible charges for using cannabis oil to treat their three-year-old son’s severe epilepsy. They  were questioned by the Epping Sex Offences and Child Abuse Investigation team earlier in July and their cannabis oil seized.