"The Nose Knows" no Longer

Everywhere you go, you smell weed. It's stomach turning. 

And now, it's not even Probable Cause:

• The scent of cannabis smoke alone is not enough to justify a police search of a vehicle, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

  In a 6-0 ruling, the court found that cannabis laws in Illinois had evolved to the point that just catching a whiff of burnt weed is no longer enough probable cause for police to search a vehicle.

  Thursday’s opinion upholds two lower court rulings that threw out evidence — an ounce of marijuana — found in the car of a Chicago man who was pulled over for driving 3 miles over the speed limit on Interstate 80 in September 2020, nine months after cannabis was legalized in Illinois.

  “Since January 1, 2020, the use and possession of cannabis is presumptively lawful, subject to certain restrictions,” Justice P. Scott Neville Jr. wrote for the majority. “We hold that the odor of burnt cannabis, alone, is insufficient to provide probable cause for police officers to perform a warrantless search of a vehicle.”

Isn't it still illegal to operate a motor vehicle while high? You see someone all over the road, you pull them over, and when they roll the window down, all you smell is recently smoked blunt. You have to build on that, too?

• But Officer, this isn't my car....and these aren't my pants

We used to opine that 85% of weekend traffic crashes involved alcohol. Now we'd say 95% of weekend crashes involve either alcohol or weed.

Or both.