VANCOUVER - A Federal Court has granted an application to allow patients who use medical marijuana to continue to grow their own pot despite imminent changes to the law.

A group of patients asked the court for a temporary injunction while take the federal government to court over the new regulations, which restrict medical marijuana production to licenced commercial producers.

The changes are part of a major overhaul of Canada's medical marijuana system, which has allowed licenced patients to grow their own pot since 2001.

The patients told the court earlier this week that some of them won't be able to afford marijuana under the new system and they won't be able to obtain the strains that work best for them.

The federal government says the potential risks related to grow-ops, such as fires, mould and crime, outweigh the patients' rights to grow their own.

A full trial on the patients challenge is expected to be scheduled within the next year.