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UK: Camborne man, 82, who grew dozens of cannabis plants in garage never felt guilty and would do it all again Lisa Letcher Cornwall Live Tuesday 03 May 2022 A man twice caught growing dozens of cannabis plants from his garage in Cornwall before receiving a conditional discharge sentence says he still has no regrets and has joined a petition to make the drug more widely available on the NHS. Philip Antony Bevington, who goes by the name Tony, said he started growing cannabis plants in his Camborne garage to extract both CBD and THC compounds in the plants' oil to help alleviate symptoms of his kidney disease. The 82-year-old has since got access to a legal prescription but maintains that he grew the cannabis to "save [his] life" and would do it again. He's now speaking out once again despite the risks as TOWIE star Amy Childs aims to persuade Boris Johnson to make the drug more widely available on the NHS as part of her campaign to help sick children who would benefit from it. Childs, 31, wants to talk to the Prime Minister and wife Carrie “parent to parent” after being moved to tears by six-year-old Jorja Emerson’s plight. Jorja’s dad Robin, 36, says medical cannabis oil has cut seizures that threaten to kill his daughter who has severe epilepsy caused by a rare chromosome disease, reports the Mirror. Since she started the drug her family say she’s gone from 30 seizures a day to barely stepping foot in hospital. In an interview with Cornwall Live after his arrest in 2020, Bevington said he believed that the law was going to kill him - claiming the plants were what was keeping him alive. He was diagnosed with stage 3 kidney failure in 2018, a condition for which there is not cure and is terminal. Get the best stories about the things you love most curated by us and delivered to your inbox every day. Choose what you love here In the face of having to go on dialysis for the rest of his days, the former farmer and horticulturalist, did some research into the so-called medical benefits of cannabis as a pain relief, and when CBD oil purchased legally from shops did not work out for him, he decided to grow his own plants. He said: "I know I am breaking the law but the law as it stands is an a*s. I don't deal drugs. I Have been very open about it and when police officers came to my house and asked me if I grew cannabis, I admitted it and led them straight to it. I don't even fiddle the electrics like drug dealers do. It was all above board. To those who say that cannabis is an illegal drug, I say is it better to be illegally alive or legally dead?" Speaking amid the Mirror petition being launched with Childs, he recently said he would do it all again if presented with a similar scenario. "My condition improved leaps and bounds,” said Tony. “My kidney disease readings improved, my pain went, I was eating better. I was sleeping incredibly well and I felt fine. Essentially, I went back to normal. “Though I loved the growing side, I lived in constant fear, always expecting a visit from the police," he continued. “I never felt guilty, I was saving my own life. I was just scared and angry the law was unable to recognise how this amazing plant was benefiting me.” He received a two-year conditional discharge after pleading guilty to two counts of cultivating cannabis at Truro Crown Court. Although he now has access to a private legal prescription, Tony said the standard is “abysmal” and very expensive. Medical cannabis is legal in the UK but NHS demand for more trials on the drug’s safety means few get prescriptions, forcing people to shell out thousands a month for private treatment. It has left many sufferers having to go abroad to get the drug – or risk a criminal conviction by growing their own. You can read more individual cases of people struggling to afford the drug, or who took the decision to grow it themselves here. https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/camborne-man-82-who-grew-7028312
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