If the police say there was a weed smell coming from your vehicle or your front door, there’s no doubt you’re in a difficult spot. Courts have ruled, time after time, that the odor of cannabis gives officers probable cause to search. Unfortunately, there’s also no doubt that many cops are more than willing to lie about smelling weed.
Your best course of action in such a situation is usually to say, “Officer, I have nothing to hide, but I don’t consent to any searches,” according to Flex Your Rights. If they search you anyway, as is likely if they claim to smell weed, you’ll need an attorney if they find anything. But you’ll be in a much better legal position for not having consented to the search. It’s an easy rule of thumb: never consent to a search.
Smoking weed in public places like vehicles is the number one cause of avoidable arrests. Predictable is preventable, so there’s no need to become a statistic.
Even with legalization, police officers can still use weed smell as a reason to search you.
Now that recreational cannabis is legal for adults in more and more locales, you’d think the old excuse of a weed smell would stop working as an excuse for cops to search.
But in places in California, legal weed may actually give the cops more opportunity to search people, according to attorney Ryan A. Casey of the West Los Angeles law firm Panish Shea & Boyle LLP, reports LA Weekly. Casey says weed smell could be still used as probable cause if public consumption remains illegal.
more please !
Your best course of action in such a situation is usually to say, “Officer, I have nothing to hide, but I don’t consent to any searches,” according to Flex Your Rights. If they search you anyway, as is likely if they claim to smell weed, you’ll need an attorney if they find anything. But you’ll be in a much better legal position for not having consented to the search. It’s an easy rule of thumb: never consent to a search.
Smoking weed in public places like vehicles is the number one cause of avoidable arrests. Predictable is preventable, so there’s no need to become a statistic.
Even with legalization, police officers can still use weed smell as a reason to search you.
Now that recreational cannabis is legal for adults in more and more locales, you’d think the old excuse of a weed smell would stop working as an excuse for cops to search.
But in places in California, legal weed may actually give the cops more opportunity to search people, according to attorney Ryan A. Casey of the West Los Angeles law firm Panish Shea & Boyle LLP, reports LA Weekly. Casey says weed smell could be still used as probable cause if public consumption remains illegal.
more please !
