News Roundup

The Asheville Citizen Times reports that the city’s police department has implemented a policy that requires officers to use a newly-developed written consent form prior to conducting a consent search.  The form makes clear that people giving consent understand that they have a right to refuse the search, that their consent is given voluntarily, and that they understand that evidence discovered during the search may be used against them.  Consent to search may still be given verbally, but the form also may be signed by the person who is the target of the search.  The Citizen Times says that the new policy is controversial, with some arguing that the policy will reduce racial disparities in policing and others arguing that it will diminish officer safety.  The APD’s press release about the new policy is available here.  Keep reading for more news Smokable Hemp.  Hemp is back in the news again this week, with the Associated Press reporting that a version of the 2019 Farm Act approved by the North Carolina Senate this week makes possession of smokable hemp illegal beginning next June.  The proposed legislation also modifies G.S. 15A-974 by adding a new subsection that deals with suppressing evidence in situations where there is a subsequent determination that a substance believed to be a controlled substance at the time of a search is not actually a controlled substance.  Look for a blog post from Phil discussing the legal status of smokable hemp in detail once a final version of the Farm [...]