SMELL OF MARIJUANA NOT ENOUGH EVIDENCE TO JUSTIFY CAR SEARCH, JUDGE SAYS

A judge in British Columbia has thrown out charges against a man
stopped by police in B. C. last year with four garbage bags in the
back seat full of marijuana plants, ruling that the smell of the drug
is not enough evidence to justify a search of his car.

Provincial court Judge Peder Gulbransen found police seriously
violated the man's constitutional rights. The judge ruled that the
smell was evidence of a past offence of possessing marijuana, allowing
the officer to check whether the driver was impaired by use of the
drug, but did not give sufficient grounds to search the car without a
warrant.

On June 20, 2007, police in the Vancouver suburb of Delta stopped a
vehicle driven by David Razah Hood as they prepared to execute a
search warrant on a house believed used for growing marijuana. The
officer who stopped the vehicle smelled marijuana and arrested Mr.
Hood.