The odor of burnt Marijuana alone cannot justify an exit order from a motor vehicle
- Steven Topazio wrote this September 12, 2023 at 6:36 pm
The odor of burnt Marijuana alone cannot justify an exit order from a motor vehicle.
Due to the decriminalization of possessing one ounce or less of marijuana, the odor of burnt marijuana will no longer provide the police with probable cause, or even reasonable suspicion that a crime is occurring, which justifies the exit order of a defendant from a motor vehicle.
In a recent case, a Boston Municipal Court judge did not err in allowing a criminal defendant’s pretrial motion to suppress evidence found by police on the defendant, a passenger in a stopped automobile, as well as an admission made by the defendant to the police.
The situation arose when officers properly detained the vehicle to issue a traffic citation and detected the odor of burnt marijuana. Officers then permissibly asked the driver whether he had been smoking marijuana. However, there was no basis on which the police could order the defendant out of the vehicle without at least some other additional fact beyond the mere odor of burnt marijuana.
This is due to recent changes to the law stating that the odor of burnt marijuana alone can no longer provide police officers with reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is underway or with probable cause to believe that a criminal amount of contraband is present. This change in the legal landscape came about with the enactment of G, L c. 94C, §§ 32L- 32N, inserted by St. 2008, c. 387, §§ 2-4, which decriminalized possession of less than one ounce of marijuana.
COMMONWEALTH vs. BENJAMIN CRUZ. 459 Mass. 459 (2011)
Background photo courtesy of: 2H Media