NYPD Prohibits Vehicle Searches Based Solely on the Smell of Marijuana

New York City officers can no longer conduct vehicle searches based on the smell of marijuana alone. 

The order was outlined in a new NYPD memo that details the state’s new laws pertaining to cannabis sales, possession, and use among adults 21 and older. “Effective immediately, the smell of marijuana alone no longer establishes probable cause of a crime to search a vehicle,” the memo states. “This change applies to both burnt and unburnt marijuana.”

According to the four-page memo, obtained by CNN, officers may search vehicles if the driver appears to be under the influence of marijuana and if “there is probably cause to believe that the vehicle contains evidence of the impairing” substance. This evidence could include the smell of burnt cannabis or if the driver admits to having consumer marijuana before getting behind the wheel. “However, the trunk may not be searched unless the officer develops separate probable cause to believe the trunk contains evidence of a crime,” the memo continues.

The memo goes on to point out that anyone over the legal age is allowed to consume marijuana “almost anywhere that cigarette smoking is allowed including on sidewalks, on front stoops and other public places”; therefore, officers cannot approach, stop summons, arrest, or search an individual simply because he/she was smoking weed in these areas. The memo notes that street sales of cannabis are still against the law, but an officer who sees a hand-to-hand exchange of 3 ounces or less of marijuana cannot make an arrest or issue a summons—that is, unless they also witness an exchange of money.