A Missouri lawmaker has pre-filed a bill for the 2024 session that would prevent police from using the smell of marijuana as the sole basis of a warrantless vehicle or property search.
The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Ian Mackey (D), would build on the state’s voter-approved cannabis legalization law, reforming law enforcement policies in a way that mirrors steps taken by other jurisdictions like Maryland and New Jersey.
Mackey filed an earlier version of the bill in 2021, but it did not advance out of committee.
The one-page measure says that “the odor of marijuana alone shall not provide a law enforcement officer with probable cause to conduct a warrantless search of a motor vehicle, home, or other private property.”
Several legal cannabis states have similarly imposed the restriction on police, including Maryland, where the governor allowed legislation to go into law last year that blocks warrantless vehicle searches based on marijuana odor alone. New Jersey’s Supreme Court has already recently upheld similar rules in a case involving an improper search.
In Missouri, the implementation of a vote-approved 2022 legalization law has also led to the expungement of more than 100,000 marijuana cases from court records.
As of November, meanwhile,
Read full article on Marijuana Moment
