{"id":53452,"date":"2021-05-04T17:31:10","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T17:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/cops-in-maryland-can-no-longer-search-people-for-smelling-like-weed\/"},"modified":"2021-05-04T17:31:10","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T17:31:10","slug":"cops-in-maryland-can-no-longer-search-people-for-smelling-like-weed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/cops-in-maryland-can-no-longer-search-people-for-smelling-like-weed\/","title":{"rendered":"Cops in Maryland Can No Longer Search People for Smelling Like Weed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Image <\/em>via<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

A man who was searched by Maryland police as a minor was successful in his court appeal, causing a state judge to officially rule that the smell of marijuana is not a legal justification to search someone. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s huge, though to some it might seem like a no-brainer, given that the state decriminalized the possession of up to 10 grams of cannabis back in 2014. <\/p>\n

“Because an officer cannot tell by the smell of marijuana alone that a person is involved in criminal activity, we hold that the odor of marijuana, by itself, does not provide reasonable suspicion to conduct an investigatory stop,” wrote the presiding Judge Kathryn Grill Graeff in the decision, according to<\/u><\/a> USA Today.<\/p>\n