Illinois Supreme Court: Odor of Burnt Cannabis Does Not Justify Warrantless Vehicle Search – Ganjapreneur | Where to order Skittles Moonrock online

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that last week the odor of burned cannabis alone could not be used to search a vehicle without a warrant. Courthouse News Service reports. Reports opinionThe Illinois Supreme Court Justice P. Scott Neville has ruled that, based on previous, pre-legalization, court precedent, the “odor of burned cannabis is a factor that should be taken into consideration when determining if police have probable reason to search a car, but that the odor alone, without other incriminating facts, does provide probable cause to check a vehicle.”

The ruling is based on a police search conducted in September 2020 near Iowa’s border by an Illinois State Police officer during a traffic stop. Cannabis had been legalized in Illinois seven months earlier. During the traffic stop, the officer discovered one gram cannabis in a bag of plastic and charged the driver for misdemeanor possession of illegal cannabis.

A Henry County Circuit Court Judge approved a motion for the suppression of the gram as evidence. This decision was upheld by the state appeals court. The trooper claimed that the driver had been in “a known drug-corridor” and was therefore suspicious. He said the probable reason was an insecure licence plate.

In a 2022 ruling by Illinois Appellate Judge Mary McDade, the officer did not pull over the driver because he thought he was a courier for drugs, but rather on suspicion that he had smoked marijuana in a car. McDade ruled “it is not reasonable for an officer to assume that every person driving or riding in a vehicle-including rented vehicles traveling on such a major highway-is involved in narcotics related activities.”

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the officer had “not smelled the odor of burned cannabis” on the driver, “which undermines the reasonable belief [the driver] “It was discovered that the driver had smoked marijuana in his vehicle on a highway in Illinois.”

The decision cited similar decisions from Minnesota and Pennsylvania, as well as another in Kansas which focused on the smell of alcohol.

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