Had to cover up the smell of liquor with something:
"Smell of unburnt marijuana cannot justify search of car" by John R. Ellement | Globe Staff July 09, 2014
The Supreme Judicial Court Wednesday said that because voters decriminalized small amounts of marijuana in 2008, police officers in Massachusetts can no longer rely on the odor of unburnt marijuana to justify searching a person’s car.
In two unanimous rulings, the state’s highest court said they had already decided in 2011 that the odor of smoked marijuana by itself did not provide police with probable cause to stop people on the street or search the vehicles people are riding in.
The court said in its 2011 ruling that it would be legally inconsistent to allow police to make warrantless searches after they smell burning marijuana when citizens had decided through a statewide referendum question that law enforcement should “focus their attention elsewhere.’’
The court said Wednesday it was now extending the same reasoning to cases where the owner has not yet started smoking it. Marijuana, the court acknowledged, generates a pungent aroma, but an odor by itself does not allow police to determine whether a person has more than an ounce with them. Possession of an ounce or less of marijuana is not a crime.
“The 2008 initiative decriminalized possession of one ounce or less of marijuana under State law, and accordingly removed police authority to arrest individuals for civil violations,’’ Justice Barbara Lenk wrote for the unanimous court.
“We have held that the odor of burnt marijuana alone cannot support probable cause to search a vehicle without a warrant ... [now] we hold that such odor [of unburnt marijuana], standing alone, does not provide probable cause to search an automobile.’’
The court established the new legal standard in the case of Matthew W. Overmyer, who was arrested in Pittsfield by police investigating a car crash. Responding officers noticed what the SJC called “a very strong odor of unburnt marijuana.’’
Police found one bag of marijuana in the glovebox of Overmyer’s car, and a backpack holding even more, leading police to charge him with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.
The court said police could not use their noses alone to arrest Overmyer, but might have had another legally approved basis for searching his car. They ordered the case back to the district court for more proceedings.
In the second ruling, the SJC threw out criminal charges of illegal possession of ammunition and illegal possession of prescription drugs filed against Anthony Craan. Craan was stopped in Dorchester in 2010 by State Police operating a sobriety checkpoint on Gallivan Boulevard.
A trooper ordered Craan to pull over based on the odor of unburnt marijuana and then found three Ecstasy pills and .38-caliber ammunition after searching Craan’s car. Craan was not arrested at the time, but summonsed into Boston Municipal Court.
The SJC said police had no legal basis to search Craan’s car and ordered the evidence against him suppressed.
That is where my print article ended.
The court also rejected the argument from law enforcement that local police can use the odor of marijuana to stop someone because possession of marijuana is still an offense under federal law.
“The fact that such conduct is technically subject to a Federal prohibition does not provide an independent justification for a warrantless search,’’ Lenk wrote.
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For once one of their decision smells sweet.
Also see:
Half of Mass. voters OK with legalized marijuana
Patients sue Massachusetts for access to marijuana
Companies eyeing Boston for marijuana dispensary
High marks for marijuana applicants, but no licenses
I can't remember where the relevant links are (giggle).
"Alleged cannabis grower accused in Calif. wildfire" Associated Press July 14, 2014
REDDING, Calif. — A 27-year-old man who was allegedly growing marijuana is suspected of starting a wildfire that has burned about 6 square miles of forested land in Northern California.
Freddie Alexander Smoke III was arrested Saturday and accused of recklessly causing a fire and cultivating marijuana, both felonies, according to the California Department of Fire and Forestry Protection.
Seriously? The marijuana growers name is Smoke? Gonna blame the fires on him?
Is this another psyops laugher or what?
The agency said he was delivering material to a plot of marijuana in Shasta County when the exhaust from his truck ignited dry grass.
I suppose it could happen, but it sounds lame and weak when some provocateur can throw a match and advance the agenda.
I must be smoking too much, huh?
The fire has grown to 3,700 acres and destroyed six structures, CalFire officials said.
The blaze, which is burning in steep terrain, was just 10 percent contained Sunday morning.
More than 1,000 firefighters, aided by aircraft, are battling the blaze in hot, dry conditions....
In Central California, a wildfire has burned nearly 2 square miles of a remote wilderness area of the Sequoia National Forest and was just 5 percent contained as of Saturday night, according to the US Forest Service....
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Related:
"For the second day in a row, lightning was blamed for the death Saturday of a visitor at Rocky Mountain National Park. On Friday, lightning killed one woman and injured seven other people."
"Lightning struck Oregon more than 6,000 times Sunday and Monday. Meanwhile, authorities in northern California say a fire that was sparked by exhaust from a truck delivering supplies to an illegal marijuana plot has grown to nearly 7 square miles. A 27-year-old Sacramento man, Freddie Alexander Smoke, was arrested on suspicion of causing the blaze. The Bully Fire in forested land in Shasta County had burned through 4,400 acres as of Monday morning, fire officials said."
Also see: R.I. man allegedly ran marijuana operation in Stoneham
I'm $o hungry I could eat an ear!
You kids stay off the pipe, 'kay?
