VT Court: Marijuana Odor Is Insufficient for Vehicle Search

The Vermont Supreme Court ruled that odor from burnt marijuana coming from a vehicle is not sufficient as probable cause to conduct a search.

Absent of any evidence of driver impairment, the smell of burnt cannabis alone does not justify reason to seize and search a vehicle, Slate reports.

“The seizure, aimed at immobilizing the plaintiff’s vehicle while the officer sought a search warrant, was essentially based solely on the trooper’s initial detection of the faint odor of burnt marijuana, which did not, in and of itself, create fair probability that marijuana would be found in the vehicle,” the Court stated.

This ruling reverses a lower court’s previous decision.