IL Supreme Court to decide if smell of marijuana justifies vehicle searches
IL Supreme Court to decide if smell of marijuana justifies vehicle searches
Appellate courts have split on the issue since marijuana possession was legalized in 2020
This is one of a handful of police procedures that are ripe for abuse. Any officer wishing to justify a suspicion can claim that they "smell marijuana" and search a vehicle, home, etc. There is basically no way to contradict them. It's not like we have smell recordings.
Another good example is field sobriety tests (walk on this line, count a number of steps, etc.), which have been shown to be highly subjective and inaccurate even when done correctly. Policing is maybe the last modern discipline that ignores evidence-based best practices.
If I'm ever on a jury for a case that relies on police testimony as its lynchpin, I'll hang it single handedly if I have to. Show me some evidence.
I saw a cop on the news a few years ago saying he smelled alcohol on someone's breath as justification for stopping someone. Not sure that was factual.
There's always some bullshit reason they can use to stop someone and then bullshit charges they can apply.
“I smelled marijuana once, but i didn't inhale, so I can speak to this with authority.” - Brett Kavanaugh probably
If you buy from a legal Illinois dispensary, you should be safe either way. They put it in packaging that has no detectable smell.
If you buy from a legal Illinois dispensary, you should be safe either way. They put it in packaging that has no detectable smell.
Don't worry. The lack of a detectable smell has never stopped cops from 'smelling' marijuana before.
IDK what dispensaries you're visiting. But, even through the manufacturer's packaging and the dispensary's packaging it was quite loud in my car driving home.
Not true of the dispensary I visited a few months ago while in a legal state. You could smell cannabis in the parking lot from the building and smell it once I got it back to the car where the smell lingered for hours even after double bagging it.
I can't speak of dispensaries in other states. I've been to several in Illinois and that is how they all do it. There is a heavy cannabis smell when they actually let you inside the place where you buy it and maybe if a cop was hanging right outside the driveway into the dispensary specifically to catch people leaving, they might smell it on you, but considering they hire off-duty cops to be security, I doubt it.
So funny as every dispo has a smell. Of weed. If the jars and containers are smell proof where's it coming from.?.
No way every container is perfectly sealing. And if even 1 I buy leaks slightly it will smell like weed in my car even if I don't open the container. So is it really fair to use smell as the 1 factor needed to allowing search.
oink
I thought this was already decided by another court. Does precedent mean nothing?
Precedent in different states doesn't bind the rulings of other states. A federal district court could establish precedent for all of the district. National precedent would come from the SCOTUS.
Other court rulings maybe raised as a persuasive reason though.
Depends on the state, and the WaPo article is paywalled, so I don't know if that applies to Illinois yet. It should apply everywhere.
Just because it's legal to have doesn't mean it's legal to consume while driving so I'm kinda conflicted on this one. Smelling weed alone shouldn't be justification. Smelling burning weed, on the other hand...
Cops use "smell of marijuana" and "smell of burning marijuana" literally everyday to profile people and give themselves excuses to pull over and search minorities.
True; but those pieces of shit would come up with other excuses if they lose this one anyway.
Cops claim they smell weed so they can search your car, and you cant argue they didnt have probable cause since they can't record a smell.
If i get pulled over and there is blood dripping from my trunk, that is valid probable cause, andbthe dashcam footage will capture it. Cops can just claim they smelled weed and search you and you are now Sol
Its easier for illegal seizure when they can blanket cover their ass that there is some underlying thing that allowed them to be able to take whatever they wanted like when you're randomly driving to go and purchase a vehicle from somebody and you happen to have all of that funds in cash but the police can seize it take it from you and you can't even contest it took far later and some how its my responsibility to prove the money isn't illicit
I don’t like even smelling burning weed being okay. Then I can drive my stoner friends around all the time and they can smoke in my car.