Law enforcement needs more than the smell of burnt cannabis to search vehicles, the Illinois Supreme Court said in a unanimous decision on Sept. 19.
“Based on our precedent and the state of cannabis laws at the time of the search, 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,” Illinois Supreme Court Justice P. Scott Neville wrote in the 20-page ruling.
The opinion stems from a traffic stop on Sept. 15, 2020. A state police officer who stopped a man named Ryan Redmond said he detected the smell of burnt cannabis when approaching the vehicle. After Redmond failed to provide his license and registration, the officer asked him to exit the vehicle. The officer then found Redmond’s license information online and learned the car was a rental. The officer proceeded to search the vehicle, primarily because of the smell of marijuana and partly because Redmond was driving on a road known as a “drug corridor.”…