Illinois Supreme Court rules police can search vehicle if they smell raw cannabis

SPRINGFIELD, IL - In a new ruling, the Illinois Supreme Court announced that the smell of raw cannabis in a vehicle gives police probable cause to search it.

According ABC7, the ruling comes just months after the high court ruled that the smell of burnt cannabis does not give police probable cause to search a vehicle, drawing a fine line for motorists and police to follow when evaluating legal possession of cannabis. In the majority opinion, Justice P. Scott Neville wrote, "The odor of burnt cannabis prior to current cannabis use, and the odor of raw cannabis suggests that cannabis is currently possessed in the area where the odor is detected. Different laws are implicated based on those inferences."

In the 4-2 ruling, the court found that an Illinois State trooper conducted a legal search of a car in which Vincent Molina was a passenger in December of 2020, after the driver was pulled over for speeding on Interstate 88 in Whiteside County. 

Court documents state that the trooper said he smelled raw cannabis in the vehicle and initiated a search. The trooper then found multiple joints in a cardboard box in the car's center console and cannabis in a sealed plastic container in the glove box. Molina was subsequently charged with a misdemeanor for illegal possession of cannabis.

A circuit court initially ruled in Molina's favor, finding that the search was unreasonable because Illinois law allows people over the age of 21 to possess recreational cannabis. However, an appellate court and the Illinois Supreme Court disagreed with the lower court's ruling, citing the state's laws for how cannabis should legally be possessed in a vehicle.

Illinois law requires cannabis to be in a "sealed, odor-proof, child-resistant cannabis container" when in a car and for it to be "reasonably inaccessible while the vehicle is moving." Neville wrote that the trooper made a "reasonable inference" that the smell meant cannabis was illegally possessed.

Neville wrote, "While cannabis is legal to possess generally, it is illegal to possess in a vehicle on an Illinois highway unless in an odor-proof container. The odor of raw cannabis strongly suggests that the cannabis is not being possessed within the parameters of Illinois state law. And, unlike the odor or burnt cannabis, the odor of raw cannabis coming from a vehicle reliably points to when, where, and how the cannabis is possessed - namely, currently, in the vehicle, and not in an odor-proof container."

In the dissenting opinion, Justice Mary Kay O'Brien and Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis wrote, "It makes no sense to treat raw cannabis as more probative when the odor of burnt cannabis may suggest recent use, whereas the odor of raw cannabis does not suggest consumption. If the crime suggested by the odor of burnt cannabis is not sufficient for probable cause, then certainly the crime suggested by the odor of raw cannabis cannot be either."

O'Brien, a former state lawmaker, noted that it is legal to possess certain amounts of cannabis in Illinois. She wrote, "The result, whether intentional or not, is to continue to stigmatize the use of cannabis despite the legislative efforts to legalize the use of cannabis."

Illinois lawmakers have sought to enshrine limitations on vehicle searches based on the smell of cannabis into state law. In 2023, the Senate passed a bill that would prohibit police from searching a vehicle based on the smell of burnt or raw cannabis, but it stalled in the House pending resolution of the court cases.