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Tag: search and seizure

  • Confusing Law Led to Marijuana Arrests In California

    Confusing Law Led to Marijuana Arrests In California

    A recent high-profile stop has led to a lawsuit by two former highway patrol officers who now operate a cannabis transportation business. 

    Recreational cannabis may be legal in California, but complex laws in the state mean officers are still regularly pulling people over and seizing marijuana. In fact, in 2018, California Highway Patrol officers seized more cannabis than they had any other year since 2014. 

    According to The Sacramento Bee, a recent high-profile stop has led to a lawsuit by two former highway patrol officers who now operate a cannabis transportation business, Wild Rivers Transport. Rick Barry, 48, and Brian Clemann, 47, were stopped and their car was searched after a canine indicated the scent of marijuana. Although the two didn’t have cannabis in the car, they did have $257,000 in cash, which officers took and turned over to the Department of Homeland Security. 

    Now Barry and Clemann are suing the highway patrol, hoping a judge will rule that local and state law enforcement can’t interfere in the legal transport of marijuana. 

    “It appears the [California Highway Patrol] will stop at nothing to disrupt the lawful and legal transport of items involved in the medicinal cannabis industry,” they said in a press release. “Although all our invoices, licenses, and required paperwork were in order, the [California Highway Patrol] spent several hours trying to come up with charges for our lawful activity.”

    In California, the Bureau of Cannabis Control announced Jan. 16 that marijuana deliveries and transports can take cannabis anywhere in the state, “provided that such delivery is conducted in compliance with all delivery provisions of this division.”

    The specifics of California’s marijuana laws — which have the potential to influence a massive industry — have taken time to work out. 

    “These approved regulations are the culmination of more than two years of hard work by California’s cannabis licensing authorities,” Bureau Chief Lori Ajax said in a press release. “Public feedback was invaluable in helping us develop clear regulations for cannabis businesses and ensuring public safety.”

    Law enforcement was not pleased with the decision, according to David Swing, president of the California Police Chiefs Association.

    “We are deeply concerned with the adoption of the new cannabis regulations, which allow for the delivery of cannabis anywhere in the state. We are already having trouble enforcing a new and complex industry, and this allowance will only make enforcement even more difficult,” he said.

    A spokesperson for the California Highway Patrol said that agencies need to be able to stop black-market transports. 

    “In order to legally transport cannabis in California for commercial purposes, a person must possess the appropriate (Bureau of Cannabis Control) license and comply with the [Bureau of Cannabis Control] administrative regulations,” the spokesperson said.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Vermont's Top Court: Smelling "Burnt" Pot Not Valid Excuse For Search

    Vermont's Top Court: Smelling "Burnt" Pot Not Valid Excuse For Search

    The Vermont Supreme Court’s ruling will prevent future rulings against motorists for similar reasons.

    A Vermont resident won his case against police who seized his vehicle after smelling “burnt cannabis” when the state’s Supreme Court ruled that the odor of marijuana does not constitute a valid reason to conduct a search.

    The Vermont Supreme Court ruled in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which sued the state over a 2014 incident in which state police pulled over Gregory Zullo for a registration sticker issue and then seized his car without his consent after detecting the scent of burnt marijuana.

    As High Times noted, the Supreme Court’s ruling will prevent future rulings against motorists for similar reasons, though Vermont drivers can still face search and seizure if a smell of fresh marijuana is detected.

    Zullo was pulled over while driving in 2014 by state trooper Lewish Hatch, who claimed that snow was covering Zullo’s vehicle registration sticker. The trooper stated that a smell of “burnt cannabis” prompted him to request a search of Zullo’s car; though Zullo refused, police towed and searched the car and found a glass pipe with cannabis residue.

    Though Vermont law does not deem the paraphernalia a criminal or civil offense, Zullo’s car was impounded. 

    The Vermont chapter of the ACLU union took up Zullo’s case and filed suit against the state of Vermont for violation of his rights against unlawful search and seizure.

    The ACLU also alleged that Zullo, an African-American, had been stopped due to racial profiling – an issue that had been alleged in regard to Hatch, who lost his job in 2016, on several prior occasions.

    After hearing both the ACLU and state attorneys’ arguments, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled in Zullo’s favor. Associate Justice Harold E. Eaton Jr. wrote in a 50-page ruling that an “odor of marijuana is a factor, but not necessarily a determinative factor, as to whether probable cause exists.” Justice Eaton Jr. also noted that a smell of burnt cannabis would be “far less” indicative of the presence of marijuana than the potent smell of fresh marijuana. 

    The Supreme Court also ruled that the incident allowed for Zullo to pursue damages based on violation of his civil rights. Zullo has not indicated whether he intends to pursue civil action against the state of Vermont, but as High Times noted, the most positive aspect of the ruling is that it makes a clear case for preventing the scent of burnt marijuana as probable cause for a search.

    However, the scent of fresh cannabis and driving under the influence of cannabis, in the state of Vermont, remain cause for search, seizure and possible arrest.

    View the original article at thefix.com