{"id":3854,"date":"2020-10-14T04:20:43","date_gmt":"2020-10-14T11:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/?p=3854"},"modified":"2020-10-14T08:02:43","modified_gmt":"2020-10-14T15:02:43","slug":"pa-marijuana-smell-test-police-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/pa-marijuana-smell-test-police-search\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Police Search Your Car If They Smell Marijuana?"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years, officers could use the fact that they believed they smelled cannabis as a reason to conduct a police search a vehicle for cannabis. But that might be changing, according to a new appeals court ruling from Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Judges on the state Superior Court agreed with Lehigh County Judge Maria Dantos that smell alone is not sufficient reason for a police search of a car without a warrant, according<\/a> to the Associated Press. In a twist however, they ruled that in this particular case, police still had the right to search the car because of other evidence.<\/p>\n

Still, the ruling is an interesting one for cannabis consumers. It follows a national movement among some law enforcement agencies to end the marijuana smell test<\/a>. But with thousands of people still arrested each year, it\u2019s important for cannabis consumers to know what is happening in this area of the law.<\/p>\n

The 100-Year Old \u201cAutomobile Exception\u201d<\/h2>\n

Officers traditionally could use the \u201csniff test\u201d to conduct a warrantless police search of a car because for about 100 years the U.S. Supreme Court has made automobiles an exception to unreasonable searches and seizures banned by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n

The exception, granted in the 1925 case Carroll vs. United States, allows officers to search a vehicle without a warrant if \u201ca car is readily mobile and probable cause exists to believe it contains contraband.\u201d Anything found during such a search can be used as evidence in court.<\/p>\n

Police have used the odor of cannabis to serve as probable cause to search a car for decades. The ruling in 2018 by Dantos, who has since retired from the bench, found that is no longer the case.<\/p>\n

Police found a handgun and a small amount of cannabis in a plastic baggie in the car. They arrested Timothy Barr, a passenger in the car. Dantos wrote her ruling that the smell of marijuana no longer provided police probable cause to search a vehicle because it is \u201cno longer indicative of an illegal or criminal act,\u201d according to the AP.<\/p>\n

She also noted that Barr had a medical marijuana card. Pennsylvania is one of 33 states that currently allows medical marijuana use. Once Barr presented his card, it was \u201cillogical, impractical and unreasonable\u201d for officers to conclude a crime had been committed, Dantos wrote in her ruling.<\/p>\n

Some Police Already Are Stopping \u201cSniff and Search\u201d<\/h2>\n

After Dantos released her opinion in 2018, one now backed up by an appeals court, police officers already were stopping sniff and searches in some parts of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s becoming more difficult to say, \u2018I smell marijuana, I can search the car.\u2019 It\u2019s not always an automatic thing,\u201d Kyle Clark, who oversees drug impairment recognition training programs at the International Association of Chiefs of Police, told<\/a> the Associated Press.<\/p>\n

In both Florida and Texas, prosecutors have said they will top pursuing cases where the smell test is used. In addition to the fact that it no longer constitutes a crime in many cases, officers also have difficulty telling cannabis from hemp, which contains no THC. That confusion led to a man spending a month in jail in Texas in 2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But as long as marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, it\u2019s on every cannabis consumer to know the laws in their state, cities and counties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An appeals court ruling in PA finds no matter what police think they smell, they don\u2019t have the right to search your vehicle or person<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3855,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[998,326,698,1008],"yoast_head":"\nCan Police Search Your Car If They Smell Marijuana? | PA Marijuana Laws<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An appeals court ruling in PA finds no matter what police think they smell, they don\u2019t have the right to search your vehicle or person\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/pa-marijuana-smell-test-police-search\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can Police Search Your Car If They Smell Marijuana? 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