Maryland’s full House of Delegates has passed legislation that would prohibit police from using the smell of marijuana as reasonable suspicion or probable cause in order to detain an individual, while also reducing the fines associated with smoking marijuana in public.
House Bill 1071 was filed by Delegate Charlotte Crutchfield along with a massive list of 43 cosponsors, all Democrat. After passing the House by a vote of 98 to 34, it was assigned to the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, with a hearing scheduled for tomorrow, March 30 at 1pm.
House Bill 1071 would prohibit “a law enforcement officer from initiating a stop or a search of a person, a motor vehicle, or a vessel based solely” on the smell of marijuana.
The proposal would also reduce the fine associated with smoking marijuana in public (which remains a civil infraction even under the voter-approved legalization initiative) from $250 to $50 for a first offense, and from $500 to $150 for subsequent offenses.
The legislation is timely as an initiative legalizing the possession of up to 1.5 ounces of marijuana was passed by voters in November.
Specifically, House Bill 1071 states that:
A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER MAY NOT INITIATE A STOP OR A SEARCH OF A PERSON, A MOTOR VEHICLE, OR A VESSEL BASED SOLELY ON ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING:
(1) THE ODOR OF BURNT OR UNBURNT CANNABIS;
(2) THE POSSESSION OR SUSPICION OF POSSESSION OF CANNABIS THAT DOES NOT EXCEED THE PERSONAL USE AMOUNT, AS DEFINED UNDER § 5–601 OF THE CRIMINAL LAW ARTICLE; OR
(3) THE PRESENCE OF CASH OR CURRENCY IN PROXIMITY TO 28 CANNABIS WITHOUT OTHER INDICIA OF AN INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE.
“Marijuana odor stops and searches not only pose serious risk to people’s Fourth Amendment rights, they enable racial profiling and dangerous and unnecessary police interactions,” says Yanet Amanuel with the ACLU. “This is why it is critical that the legislature must step up and ensure that the law and police practices are consistent with the reason you all said you support legalization of marijuana and, most importantly, the law reflects the will of the people.”
Amanuel adds that “Marylanders should not fear police interactions because of a lingering odor of a now legal substance.”
If passed into law, House Bill 1071 would take effect on July 1.
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