A pensioner who was arrested over his cannabis plants has credited the drug with “saving his life” as he battles kidney failure.

Tony Bevington said police have visited him twice at his home to tell him to stop growing his own cannabis, which he would use to make CBD oil.

The 79-year-old said he turned to the drug after he was diagnosed with stage three kidney failure, which is not treatable.

He has claimed his condition has improved since he started using cannabis as a form of medicine.

“Is it better to be illegally alive or legally dead?” he said. “I have grown it to save my life.”

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The pensioner from Camborne, a town in Cornwall, said he would turn the drug into oil to “swallow it like any other medicine”.

Mr Bevington was arrested along with two members of his family and also received a caution after neighbours tipped off the police.

“They came and took my plants, my pots, everything,” he said. “They came back again six to eight weeks later to caution me and I had started again, which I had to do to get my medication.”

Mr Bevington told local media that he will have to try and get cannabis off friends who grow the drug in the future.

“I can’t grow anymore because I’ll go to prison,” he told Cornwall Live. ”At 80 years old, that is ludicrous.”

He said: “I accept that as the law stands, I’ve broken the law. But in my thoughts, the law is an ass.”

Devon and Cornwall Police said that legislation was a matter for the government but confirmed three people “remained under investigation” for drug-related offences.