California Supreme Court rules loose marijuana in car is not grounds for search

Loose weed on your car floor: is it illegal or just a mess? A California Supreme Court ruling involving a Sacramento traffic stop bars police from stopping or ticketing drivers over loose marijuana, ruling that it's similar to spilled beer and not readily consumable.

During that Sacramento traffic stop, officers found .36 grams of loose-leaf marijuana on the backseat floorboards of a vehicle as well as a tray that is commonly used for rolling marijuana joints. The officers considered the items enough for a search as a violation of the state's open container laws. 

The state's highest court decision found that if the marijuana can't be easily consumed, California police do not have the right to search the vehicle. 

"The question before us is whether a small amount of loose marijuana scattered on the rear floor of a car violates that provision. We hold it does not. We further hold that the officers here lacked probable cause to conduct a search of the vehicle," wrote Justice Goodwin Liu in the court's opinion. 

In his opinion, Justice Liu noted that none of the officers suggested concerns that the driver or the passenger could have reached the scattered bits of marijuana to consume. 

"Nor was there evidence of paraphernalia, such as matches, lighters, rolling papers, blunts, or vaporizers, that could facilitate the marijuana's consumption," Liu wrote.