A federal lawsuit filed Monday is the latest legal challenge over whether law-enforcement officers can use the odor of cannabis alone as probable cause for a search
A Charlotte man filed a federal lawsuit Monday alleging that two police officers wrongfully arrested him and his former girlfriend for smoking marijuana, even after he repeatedly told them it was legal hemp. Attorneys for Southern Coalition for Social Equality filed the suit on behalf of Anthony Lee. The filing also claims a third officer assaulted the former girlfriend, Christine Pierre.
The case is at least the second federal challenge over law-enforcement officers’ reliance on odor as probable cause in searches, seizures, and arrests. Hemp and marijuana come from the same plant species, Cannabis sativa, and their smell is impossible to distinguish, even for K-9s.
Under federal and state law, marijuana is defined as cannabis having 0.3% or more delta-9 THC, which is what gets people high. Hemp, which is classified as any form of the plant with under 0.3% delta-9 THC, has been legal in North Carolina since 2019, but marijuana is not. This legal morass has led to a number of challenges in local and state appellate courts, but law-enforcement officers continue to use odor to justify searches.
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