I have been covering developments around the legalization of hemp in North Carolina since 2018. Never did I suspect then that I would still be working on the topic all this time later, but here we are. My last post on In Re: J.B.P. covered the then most recent developments around probable cause and the odor of cannabis. That opinion was withdrawn and has yet to reissue, but subsequent cases have basically affirmed the logic on which the case was decided. This month, the Court of Appeals released State v. Ruffin, COA24-276, ___ N.C. App. ___ (March 5, 2025), weighing in on evidentiary challenges to opinion evidence identifying a substance as marijuana, as well as on jury instructions for marijuana cases. This post examines these and other recent legal developments impacting the state’s criminal cannabis law. Read on for the details. Odor of Cannabis = Probable Cause. Several readers have contacted me about the In Re: J.B.P. opinion, wondering where things stand with the odor of cannabis and probable cause in light of the court withdrawing that opinion. While a new opinion in J.B.P. has yet to be released, other cases have affirmed its basic premise that the odor of cannabis remains probable cause to search, seize, or arrest, even if a human is unable to smell the difference between legal hemp and illegal marijuana. See, e.g., State v. Dobson, 293 N.C. App. 450, 454 (April 16, 2024) (“[T]he legalization of hemp did not eliminate the significance of ‘the odor of [...]
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