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Chicago, IL: Justices on the Illinois Supreme Court have ruled that a police officer may not conduct a warrantless search of a motor vehicle based solely upon the smell of burnt marijuana emanating from the vehicle.
Justices opined that the odor of cannabis “lacks a clear and direct enough connection to illegal activity to make it ‘probable’ that a crime has recently been committed or is being committed” because the possession and use of marijuana is legal in the state. They further acknowledged that the defendant in the case exhibited no signs of marijuana-induced impairment and that the arresting officer failed to identify either cannabis or cannabis paraphernalia in plain view.
They concluded, “We hold that the odor of burnt cannabis is a fact that should be considered when determining whether police have probable cause to search a vehicle, but the odor of burnt cannabis, standing alone without other inculpatory facts, does not provide probable cause to search a vehicle.”
Courts in several other states where cannabis is legal for either medical or adult-use purposes – including Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Vermont – have similarly determined that the odor of marijuana, absent other evidence of a crime, does not provide probable cause to justify a warrantless search of a motor vehicle.
The case is People v. Redmond.
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