.Police officers have used the smell of cannabis to justify search and seizure for generations. In the most heartbreaking cases, like that of Philando Castile, this has led to death. States have enacted reform against this practice, creating protections against using weed smell as probable cause. Illinois is among them, kind of.
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The Illinois Supreme Court ruled four to two on Thursday. Now, police officers can search cars based on the smell of raw cannabis. This coincides with a former ruling that the aroma of burnt weed is not grounds for a vehicle search.
Justice Mary K. O’Brien and Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis voted against the ruling. Justice Lisa Holder White did not take part.
Defense attorney James Mertes plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“This means that the privacy rights of motorists in Illinois have been turned over to the police officer’s sense of smell,” Mertes said to the Chicago Tribune. “While we certainly respect the decision of the court, we share the view of the dissenters that this creates a constitutional absurdity.”
New risk for Illinois cannabis consumers
The support to take burnt weed off of the list comes from the assertion that someone who consumed cannabis before stepping into a vehicle could smell that way. Scent therefore doesn’t indicate without a doubt that a person smoked weed inside their car.
However, the original Illinois legalization bill included verbiage making it illegal to drive with weed unless it was in a smell-proof box. The law has since been altered to exclude this measure, but the vehicle code has not been changed. Court justices who voted for this latest ruling did so on the back of this law.
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This argument reached the Illinois Supreme Court due to the case of Vincent Molina, a passenger in a vehicle stopped for speeding. The trooper stated that he smelled raw cannabis from the open window of the car and searched. He found loose joints in the center console and weed sealed in a box in the glove compartment. The stop, which happened near the Iowa border, came years after the state enacted adult-use legalization.
This ruling creates a gray area in Illinois policing as far as cannabis consumers are concerned. Those who drive with weed in the car may need to invest in a smell-proof container, and anyone working at a grow operation must start changing clothes before driving home. As the case climbs up to a higher court, everyone in Illinois is best served being on their best behavior.
