Cannabis Is Now Legal In Many US States – But Can The Smell Get You In Trouble?

Parts of the country are starting to treat cannabis like alcohol when it comes to policing intoxicated driving.

As states around the country continue to legalize recreational and/or medical cannabis use, more are beginning to treat cannabis like alcohol when it comes to policing intoxicated driving.

A recent unanimous decision by the Illinois supreme court found that the smell of burnt cannabis alone does not give police license to conduct a warrantless vehicle search, making it the sixth state supreme court to make such a ruling. In contrast, Wisconsin’s supreme court ruled the opposite just last year. They found that cannabis odor in a vehicle is probable cause to justify a search (unlike in Illinois, adult recreational cannabis is still illegal in Wisconsin).

Police have had the right to search vehicles without a warrant since the 1920s, the era of alcohol prohibition. The supreme court in 1925 found that police could search vehicles if they had probable cause to believe drivers were transporting contraband alcohol. Even after prohibition ended, police still retained this right, which is why they can search vehicles when they suspect drivers are drunk or high.

Paula Savchenko, an attorney and founding partner of the Cannacore group, which helps cannabis businesses get licensed, says that in states where cannabis is legal, courts are starting to treat it more like alcohol – recognizing that the product itself is legal, but driving while impaired with it is a crime.

“When officers are investigating a driver for a DUI, the smell of alcohol is a relevant factor, however, they tend to conduct further investigations to corroborate their theory,” she said.

The Illinois supreme court decision does allow cannabis smell to be a factor in determining probable cause, but not the only factor.

Will Garriot, a professor and chair of the law, politics and society program at Drake University, says: “Cannabis odor has been an important enforcement tool for police for a long time.”

Before states began to legalize adult recreational cannabis, possessing cannabis alone was a crime so smell could justify a search.

Read the full article at The Guardian.