The Illinois Supreme Court ruled last week that the odor of burnt cannabis alone cannot be used to search vehicles without a warrant, Courthouse News Service reports. In the opinion, Illinois Supreme Court Justice P. Scott Neville ruled that based on prior, pre-legalization court precedent, “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.”
The ruling stems from a police search in September 2020 near the Iowa border, during which an Illinois State Police officer conducted a vehicle search during a traffic stop. Cannabis had already been legalized in Illinois for seven months. During the stop, the officer found one gram of cannabis in a plastic bag and charged the driver with misdemeanor illegal cannabis possession.
A Henry County Circuit Court judge approved a motion to suppress the gram of cannabis as evidence, a decision upheld by the state appellate court. The trooper argued that the driver was in “a known drug corridor” and therefore suspicious, and
