One of the first questions to be raised was about the smell of cannabis emanating from vehicles on the roadway. Sgt. Ron Miller, who took the lead on answering questions during the event, said, “If we smell marijuana in a car, we can’t do anything.”
The presence of the odor of cannabis is apparently not cause to search a vehicle. The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that searching a vehicle based on the odor of cannabis is a violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens against unreasonable search or seizure by the government.
A New Jersey Office of Attorney General directive updated May 27, 2022, says if a driver is suspected of being under the influence, the officer should take the traditional investigative steps to determine if there is probable cause for an arrest under N.J.S.A. 39:4-50. However, if no probable cause exists, the odor of either burned or raw cannabis does not justify a continued stop.
Police are further hampered by the fact that there is no test for marijuana that is similar to the Alcotest for alcohol.
“If they don’t show impairment, there is little we can do,” Miller said.