An Illinois Supreme Court decision has ruled that the smell of burnt cannabis is ‘insufficient to provide probable cause for a police officer to search a vehicle without a warrant’.
The landmark decision upheld previous rulings from the lower courts, citing major changes to state law regarding cannabis that have altered how its use should be treated by law enforcement.
Since 2020, adult-use cannabis consumption has been legal in Illinois, but those driving must keep their cannabis in odor-proof containers.
This stipulation was a key element of the initial case, People vs. Redmond, in which Ryan Redmond was pulled over while traveling from Des Moines to his home in Chicago on a stretch of road police described as a ‘known drug corridor’.
State Trooper Hayden Combs pulled Redmond over for minor traffic violations, before conducting an unwarranted search of his vehicle based on the odor of burnt cannabis.
Once inside the vehicle, Redmond was found to have one gram of cannabis in a plastic bag in the vehicle’s center console, leading to a charge of unlawful possession, citing his failure to transport his cannabis in an odor-proof container.
During the original 2020 court case, Combs conceded that Redmond showed no signs of impairment and that there was no evidence of cannabis buring inside the car.
Combs testimony that he had searched the car because of an odor of burnt cannabis was challenged by Redmond in lower courts, which ruled in his favour.
On Thurday September 19, the Justice P. Scott Neville Jr., writing for the court, stated that the smell of burnt cannabis could no longer serve as standalone probable cause for searches, particularly in a legal environment where cannabis use and possession are permitted under certain guidelines.
“We also hold that the totality of the facts and circumstances known to Officer Combs did not provide probable cause to search Redmond’s vehicle,” the ruling said.
“The laws on cannabis have changed in such a drastic way as to render the smell of burnt cannabis, standing alone, insufficient to provide probable cause for a police officer to search a vehicle without a warrant.”
