Smell Of Raw Cannabis Is Enough To Search Vehicles: IL Supreme Court

ILLINOIS — The Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the odor of raw cannabis — unlike the smell of burnt marijuana — is enough to justify a warrantless vehicle search by police, even though marijuana is legal in the state.

The opinion filed this week is in direct contrast to an Illinois Supreme Court decision from September, which ruled that the smell of weed, or burnt marijuana, is not enough for police to conduct a search without a warrant. In that unanimous decision, justices ruled that the long-standing law enforcement practice of justifying warrantless searches by reporting the smell of marijuana alone is no longer going to hold up in Illinois courts.

Thursday's opinion, on the other hand, drew dissent from Justice Mary K. O’Brien and Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis. O'Brien wrote that the notion that the smell of unsmoked, raw marijuana is enough for a search, while the smell of burnt marijuana is not, "defies logic," according to WTTW.

This week's ruling came after Vincent Molina, a passenger in a vehicle that was stopped for speeding on I-88 in Whiteside County in 2020, was charged with misdemeanor possession of cannabis. A trooper searched the vehicle on the grounds that he smelled raw cannabis coming from the car, reportedly finding a sealed box of cannabis in the glove compartment and several joints in the car, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Molina initially won a motion to suppress the evidence gathered by the trooper, arguing that the smell of raw cannabis wasn't enough to justify the search. Thursday's ruling overturns that decision based on a state law requiring marijuana to be in an odor-proof, child resistant container when being transported by vehicle, WTTW reported.

Related: Smell Of Weed Not Enough To Search Car, Illinois Supreme Court Rules

The September ruling that the smell of burnt marijuana is not enough to search a vehicle stems from the case of Ryan Redmond, who was pulled over for speeding on Interstate 80 in Henry County in September 2020. In that case, Illinois State Police Trooper Hayden Combs searched the car after he said he smelled burnt marijuana, and found a small amount of marijuana in the center console.

But although such searches had been upheld under Illinois law for decades, the court found on Sept. 19 that the amended legal status of cannabis meant the smell alone no longer constituted probable cause.