Florida Court Rules Police Can't Use Cannabis Odor for Warrantless Car Searches

A recent ruling by Florida’s 2nd District Court of Appeal issued that police officers may not enforce motor vehicle searches due to the smell of cannabis being present (1).

The Florida 2^nd District Court of Appeal judges recognized that “the use of cannabis in certain circumstances is legally regulated statewide,” (1). With this acknowledgement, both state and local police are no longer able to “presume” that smelling the odor of cannabis could be “probable cause of a crime.”

The majority said (1), “By defining and legalizing discrete forms of cannabis on bases that are manifestly not discernable by smell, … the mere odor of cannabis standing alone no longer can make it clearly or immediately apparent that the substance is contraband without conducting some further search.” Next steps are that the ruling is going to be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

A ruling by the 5^th District Court of Appeal in Florida ruled that police officers are not entitled to begin a warrantless search of a motor vehicle due to an alert from a specially trained police canine.

Other states have enforced similar rulings such as Delaware, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Maryland, where the smell of cannabis coming from a motor vehicle cannot be justification for a police officer to conduct a search without a warrant (1).

Appearance of Cannabis Does Not Mean Distinguishment Between Cannabis and Hemp

In April 2025, the 2^nd District Court of Appeals in Florida reversed a cannabis trafficking conviction due to a failure on the prosecution side that the judges explained that they did not “take adequate steps to distinguish whether the defendant possessed cannabis or hemp,” (1,2). From this ruling, police were no longer able to rely entirely on the “appearance” of cannabis being a crime due to “legal hemp and illegal cannabis are indistinguishable by appearance, texture, and odor,” (1).

The case involved a defendant who was convicted of cannabis trafficking following their arrest at Tampa International Airport (Tampa, Florida), where the individual possessed a duffle bag that contained 50 vacuum-sealed bags of a “leafy green” substance (2). A specially trained police dog made an alert toward the individual’s duffle bag. One of the 50 bags from the duffle bag were tested for a chemical analysis by law enforcement which did end up testing positive for the cannabis plant.

“Legal hemp and illegal cannabis are indistinguishable by appearance, texture, and odor. … Because there is an identifiable danger of misidentification between legal hemp and illegal cannabis, where the contents of multiple packages are to be considered in proving the quantity of illegal cannabis, the state can no longer rely solely on appearance and odor to extend an inference of illegal cannabis to the remaining untested packets and must chemically test each packet of green, leafy substance to meet the threshold weight required for trafficking,” the 2^nd District Court of Appeals ruled. “To hold otherwise and allow the state to rely on the identification of similar packages of a green, leafy substance by appearance and odor alone would undermine a defendant’s presumption of innocence and erroneously negate the state’s burden to prove the identity and weight of the alleged substance.”

SB 2514 Law: Drug-Related Crimes Can Enforce Medical Cannabis Card Evocation

SB 2514 was signed into law by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in July 2025. The bill establishes that the state of Florida can revoke medical cannabis cards licensed in the Sunshine State for individuals that have been convicted of drug-related crimes (3). The Florida Department of Health will be able to “revoke the medical marijuana use registry registration of qualified patients and caregivers who enter certain pleas or are found guilty of certain offenses,” (3).

NORML commented on the new bill and was opposed to the new restrictions it implements (3), “Patients do not lose their access to opioids and other traditional medications based on past convictions. They should not lose their access to medical cannabis either.”

References

1. Norml. FL court rules marijuana odor not cause for a vehicle search https://norml.org/news/2025/10/09/florida-appellate-court-rules-that-odor-of-marijuana-no-longer-constitutes-probable-cause-for-a-motor-vehicle-search/ (accessed Oct 16, 2025).
2. Norml. FL appeals court throws out conviction, says K9s can’t distinguish hemp from marijuana https://norml.org/news/2025/04/17/florida-appeals-court-throws-out-cannabis-conviction-because-canines-cant-distinguish-between-hemp-and-marijuana/ (accessed Oct 16, 2025).
3. Colli, M. SB 2514 law establishing revoking of medical cannabis cards for drug-related crimes, signed by governor Desantis https://www.cannabissciencetech.com/view/sb-2514-law-establishing-revoking-of-medical-cannabis-cards-for-drug-related-crimes-signed-by-governor-desantis (accessed Oct 16, 2025).