A major British railway station was evacuated earlier this week amid reports of a suspicious package. 

The item that set off the panic? A weed grinder. 

OK, it wasn’t just any grinder, but one that was “in the shape of a grenade,” according to BBC.

The evacuation occurred on Monday at Birmingham New Street Station.

According to BBC, all “services in and out of the station were suspended after reports of a suspicious package” at about 3:00 in the afternoon local time. 

“Experts discovered the item, found on a platform, was actually a cannabis grinder in the shape of a grenade,” BBC reported. “Commuters were allowed back in at about [4:40], but disruption is expected to last until the end of the day.”

The Mirror has more details on the false alarm:

“Passengers were told to get ‘as far away from the building as possible’ according to some people at the scene amid the security threat. The bomb incident at the busy train station saw all lines blocked and all services running in and out of the station delayed as a 100 metre cordon was put in place. One person at the station claimed the conductor on the 15:28 from Derby told passengers a suspected grenade had been found at the station on platform 1.”

According to The Mirror, the station was “evacuated entirely and on the ground,” and there were “alarms going off as people were warned to get away from the station as police and ambulances descended on the scene of the incident.”

But, per the BBC, experts discovered the item was just a grinder. 

“The item has now been assessed and deemed non-suspicious. It’s a cannabis grinder designed to resemble a hand grenade,” a spokesperson for the British Transport police told Birmingham Live.

“Officers received a report of a suspicious item on a platform at Birmingham New Street at 3pm today (31 October),” the spokesperson said earlier in the day, as quoted by Birmingham Live. “The station has been evacuated as a precaution and a cordon is in place while specialist officers attend to assess the item.”

Under the law in the United Kingdom, cannabis is classified as a “Class B” drug, dubbed an “intermediary category” that also includes amphetamines and barbiturates. “Class B” drugs carry potential penalties of up to five years in prison for possession, and as many as 14 years for trafficking and cultivation/production.

There were reports last month that the U.K.’s home secretary, Suella Braverman, had designs on imposing the stricter “Class A” on classification on cannabis.

“Class A” drugs include the likes of heroin and cocaine, and impose potential penalties of seven years in prison for possession, and possibly a life sentence for production. 

Downing Street ultimately squashed Braverman’s idea, saying the government had no plans to change cannabis’ classification. 

“There’s no plans to change the laws around cannabis,” a spokesperson for the prime minister’s office said at the time, as quoted by BBC. “Our priority is on cracking down on illegal drugs and the crime they drive. We’ve launched a drug strategy backed by record investment to deliver a whole-system approach to tackling supply and demand.”

Braverman’s proposal was widely criticized.

Per the BBC, “Scottish Health Secretary Humza Yousaf was also critical of the idea, describing it as ‘regressive’ and ‘dangerous.’”

Yousaf “said one of the first things he would want to do if Scotland became independent would be to implement a ‘progressive’ approach to dealing with drug use to ‘break the cycle of poverty’ and substance abuse,” according to the BBC.

The post U.K. Railway Station Evacuated Due to Suspicious Package, Turns Out To Be a Grinder appeared first on High Times.

The post U.K. Railway Station Evacuated Due to Suspicious Package, Turns Out To Be a Grinder appeared first on Paradise Found.

United Kingdom Home Secretary Suella Braverman is considering assigning a stricter classification of cannabis under the nation’s drug laws over concerns that marijuana is a gateway drug and can lead to serious health problems. Braverman’s review follows recent calls from fellow law enforcement leaders to reclassify cannabis as a Class A drug, the same category assigned to substances including heroin, cocaine, and ecstasy.

Braverman is against the decriminalization of cannabis, saying that efforts to reform cannabis policy send a “cultural” symbol that marijuana use is acceptable, according to a report from The Times. The home secretary is also concerned about evidence that cannabis use can lead to serious physical health problems including cancer and birth defects and mental health conditions including psychosis.

Currently, the U.K. government lists cannabis as a Class B drug, carrying penalties of up to five years in prison for possession and up to 14 years for production or trafficking. The more strict Class A drug designation for cannabis would make penalties for marijuana offenses more severe, including jail terms of up to seven years for possession and penalties of up to life in prison for marijuana producers and suppliers. An unidentified source close to Braverman told The Times that the home secretary believes the more severe penalties are warranted because they would serve as a deterrent to cannabis use and trafficking.

“We’ve got to scare people,” she reportedly said.

The bid to classify cannabis more strictly continues the Conservative government’s bid to address illegal drug use. In July, the Home Office, the government ministry responsible for law and order, immigration and security, published a white paper revealing a proposal to revoke the driver’s licenses and passports of people with multiple drug-related convictions.

Law Enforcement Leaders Call for Harsher Penalties for Weed

The home secretary’s support for stiffening the government’s classification of cannabis follows calls from law enforcement administrators earlier this week to reclassify marijuana as a Class A drug. At the time, The Home Office said there were no plans to reclassify the drug, while cannabis policy reform activists characterized the idea as “dangerous” and “crazy.”

At a Conservative Party conference held in Birmingham last week, a group of police and crime commissioners called for cannabis to be more strictly regulated, maintaining that it is time for the government to acknowledge that marijuana is more than “just a little bit of weed.”

Police and crime commissioners are elected officials with oversight of law enforcement operations in England and Wales, although they are not directly involved in passing criminal laws or managing police forces.

At the Birmingham gathering, police and crime commissioners called for a change in cannabis policy, saying that it is “time we realized that it is not just a little bit of weed.” David Sidwick, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Dorset, said that cannabis is “driving harm” in communities. 

“We’re seeing it because it’s a gateway drug,” he said. “If you look at the young people in treatment, the number one drug they are in treatment for is cannabis.”

Sidwick, who formerly worked in the pharmaceutical industry, claimed that a “wealth of new data” on the drug’s effects on health has come to light, meriting a “re-evaluation” of the penalties associated with cannabis offenses. He added that law enforcement is needed in conjunction with drug education and rehabilitation, saying that designating cannabis as a Class A drug would provide clarity in enforcement policy.

“There are so many crimes linked to drugs that, actually, by addressing this, by giving us this clarity, it makes it clearer for our police to be able to do what they need to do,” he said.

But research does not support the theory that marijuana is a gateway drug that leads users to more harmful or addictive substances. In 2017, a report from the Drug Policy Alliance noted that while marijuana is the most widely used illicit substance in the world, it has never been proven to have an actual gateway effect.

“Research shows that marijuana could more accurately be described as a ‘terminus’ drug because the vast majority of people who use marijuana do not go on to use other illicit drugs,” reads the report.

Pot Activists Characterize Plan as ‘Crazy’

Peter Reynolds, the president of CLEAR, a group that campaigns against cannabis prohibition, said the proposal to reclassify the drug in the U.K. is “completely crazy,” adding that the Conservative commissioners are “promoting ideas which will increase crime, violence and child exploitation.”

“The idea of doing more of the same as the past 50 years, which has quite obviously dramatically failed, is ridiculous,” Reynolds said. “The only people who want this are ignorant politicians and the people who sell illegal drugs, I’m crystal clear about that.”

After the police and crime commissioners revealed the proposal to classify cannabis as a Class A drug, a spokesperson for the Home Office said that the potential dangers associated with cannabis do not warrant reclassifying the drug.

“There are currently no plans to reclassify cannabis, which is controlled as a Class B drug in the U.K. on the basis of clear medical and scientific evidence of its harms,” the spokesperson said.

However, media reports now indicate that Braverman is reviewing the evidence before making a final decision.

The post U.K. Home Secretary Supports Stricter Classification for Cannabis appeared first on High Times.

The post U.K. Home Secretary Supports Stricter Classification for Cannabis appeared first on Paradise Found.