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A6 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 14 September 2019
In era of legal pot, can police search cars based on odor?

unlawful body search of a
motorist whose car smelled
of marijuana and con-
tained a joint on the center
console. But the court also
decided that police were
entitled to search the car it-
self, noting that marijuana is
still considered contraband
despite the state’s medical
marijuana program, and
people have a “diminished
expectation of privacy” in
an automobile.
Judges have also ruled
that marijuana odor can
be used in conjunction with
other factors to support a
search. If the smell is over-
powering, for example,
an officer might conclude
the motorist has a quantity
of cannabis far in excess
of what’s allowed. Driv-
ing under the influence of
marijuana is illegal in all 50
states, so police are free to
search the car of a driver
who shows signs of impair-
ment.
The longstanding federal
In this Nov. 21, 2014 file photo, a man smokes medical marijuana at his home in Belfast, Maine. ban on marijuana, and
Associated Press whether a state’s marijua-
By MICHAEL RUBINKAM programs at the Interna- baggie — evidence the that the smell of marijuana na law is broad or narrow in
Associated Press tional Association of Chiefs judge suppressed. alone cannot justify a war- scope, are additional fac-
Sniff and search is no lon- of Police. “The ‘plain smell’ of mari- rantless vehicle search. tors that courts have con-
ger the default for police in For nearly 100 years, the juana alone no longer In Vermont, the state Su- sidered, said Alex Kreit, vis-
some of the 33 states that U.S. Supreme Court has provides authorities with preme Court ruled in Janu- iting professor at the Drug
have legalized marijuana. recognized an “automo- probable cause to con- ary that the “faint odor of Enforcement and Policy
Traditionally, an officer bile exception” to the duct a search of a subject burnt marijuana” didn’t Center at Ohio State Uni-
could use the merest whiff Fourth Amendment’s ban vehicle,” Lehigh County give state police the right versity’s law school.
of weed to justify a warrant- on unreasonable searches Judge Maria Dantos wrote, to impound and search a On patrol, some officers are
less vehicle search, and and seizures, giving law because it’s “no longer man’s car. Colorado’s Su- taking heed of the chang-
whatever turned up — pot, enforcement the right to indicative of an illegal or preme Court ruled in May ing landscape.
other kinds of illegal drugs, conduct a warrantless criminal act.” She said that that because a drug-de- In Michigan, medical mari-
something else the motorist search if there is reason to once the passenger pre- tection dog was trained to juana patient Craig Can-
wasn’t allowed to have — suspect a vehicle is hiding sented his medical mari- sniff for marijuana — which terbury said he produced
could be used as evidence contraband or evidence juana card, it was “illogical, is legal in the state — along his ID card after state po-
in court. That’s still true in of a crime. Police have impractical and unreason- with several illegal drugs, lice told him they smelled
the minority of states where long used the exception to able” for troopers to con- police could not use the marijuana in his van during
marijuana remains verbo- conduct vehicle searches clude a crime had been dog’s alert to justify a ve- a traffic stop last year.
ten. But the legal analy- based on the pungent, dis- committed. hicle search. “They looked at the card,
sis is more complicated tinctive odor of pot. Prosecutors have ap- “Smell alone is gradually made sure it was legal, and
in places where pot has Increasingly, motorists in pealed the ruling, arguing becoming no excuse for that was that,” Canterbury
been approved for medi- states where marijuana the search was legal un- getting around the Fourth said. He said he wouldn’t
cal or adult use, and courts is legal in some form are der recent state Supreme Amendment,” said Keith have agreed to a vehicle
are beginning to weigh in. pushing back when police Court precedent. But they Stroup, legal director of the search “because I had
The result is that, in some insist on a search — espe- acknowledge that marijua- National Organization for shown we were legal.”
states, a police officer who cially if that search yields na odor is an evolving issue the Reform of Marijuana When David Boyer, former
sniffs out pot isn’t necessar- evidence of a crime. in the courts. Laws. “It’s a major devel- Maine political director of
ily allowed to go through Last month, a Pennsylvania “We want to get it right,” opment, and it’s going to the Marijuana Policy Proj-
someone’s automobile — judge declared that state said Heather Gallagher, provide a layer of protec- ect, was pulled over for
because the odor by itself police didn’t have a valid chief of appeals in the dis- tion that we lost sometime speeding last year, the of-
is no longer considered evi- legal reason for search- trict attorney’s office. “We in the past.” ficer said she smelled mari-
dence of a crime. ing a car just because it need guidance, so law en- But not every court has juana in his car. Boyer, who
“It’s becoming more diffi- smelled like cannabis, since forcement knows what to ruled against sniff and said he had consumed
cult to say, ‘I smell marijua- the front-seat passenger do.” search. cannabis at a friend’s
na, I can search the car.’ had a medical marijuana Other states’ courts have Maryland’s high court house several hours ear-
It’s not always an automat- card. The search yielded curtailed searches based quoted the title of Bob lier, reminded the officer it
ic thing,” said Kyle Clark, a loaded handgun and a on odor. Dylan’s “The Times They Are was legal in Maine and told
who oversees drug impair- small amount of marijua- Massachusetts’ highest A-Changin’” in ruling last her he wasn’t under the
ment recognition training na in an unmarked plastic court has said repeatedly month that police did an influence.q