Weed, Homeless Among Topics Discussed at MTPD ‘Cops & Coffee’ Event
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.