Residency where marijuana is legal no reason for police search: U.S. court

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

U.S. | Tue Aug 23, 2016 6:14pm EDT

Residency where marijuana is legal no reason for police search: U.S. court

By Jonathan Stempel

A federal appeals court on Tuesday said police officers cannot stop and search vehicles belonging to out-of-state motorists simply because of where they reside, including states where marijuana use is legal.

By a 2-1 vote, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver said two Kansas Highway Patrol officers violated the constitutional rights of Colorado motorist Peter Vasquez in December 2011 by pulling him over and searching his car after he had been driving alone at night on Interstate 70.

The officers relied heavily on Vasquez's residency to justify the search, which uncovered nothing illegal, saying Colorado was a known "drug source" where marijuana is legal.

But the court said that would justify searching motorists from the 25 U.S. states that permit marijuana use for medical purposes, and the four states, including Colorado, plus Washington, D.C., where recreational use is allowed.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-marijuana-motorists-idUSKCN10Y2A0

[Laffy Kat]

1. So a license plate can serve as probable cause?

They can pull you over and search your person but not your car, if your vehicle has a plate that is from a state with legal weed? Is that what this says or am I confused? It sure seems sketchy to me.

[awoke_in_2003]

3. No, the court said they can't do that

Of course, they can't legally pull you over just for being black, but it happens all the time.

[Warren DeMontague]

2. Your tax dollars at work, Kansas.

I'm sure there wasn't any actual crime going on, while these guys were harassing a random motorist for being from the "wrong" state.

I'm sure.