Court Rules Burning Pot Smell Does Not Justify Police Entry

JM,
Doesn't a meth lab smell different than the smell of smoked meth? I've never actually smelled either, but I'm sure a meth lab has a symphony of smells from all of the different chemicals used.

Originally posted by The Parallelogram
The presence or absence of a smell at a given time and place cannot (as I am sure you will agree) be proven later, in court, except through the anecdotal evidence of involved parties.

Neither can the sense of hearing, such as a scream or a gunshot. Should those be disallowed as reasons for investigation?

The ruling was wrong, and will be overturned by the SCOTUS.

I disagree, and object to your use of the term "wrong" to describe an issue that is clearly not reducible to binary logic. We will see what the court thinks later.

I'll bet you a buck that I win.

Originally posted by Rasobasi420
We,, I guess the phrase isn't limited to fascism, but definitely the words of someone who places individual rights and freedoms to a lower than the governments desire to invade.

So no, I didn't call you a fascist, necessarily.

Gotcha. And you're not necessarily an anti-American communist.

And yes, this debate is about pot, and not about a sense of smell.

The debate may be, because you cannot see the larger picture, but the issue is not.

"The aroma of marijuana must be accompanied by some evidence that the suspects are disposing of the evidence, as opposed to casually consuming it," Justice Ronald Nehring wrote for the majority.

This ruling is limited to marijuana, and doesn't extend beyond that. You an't casually consume a body, or a meth lab.

The judge was wrong, and so are you. It isn't the first time, nor will it be the last.

This is about the casual consumption of a class C drug versus the production of a class A drug. These are legally, and practically very different things. That is why the judges made the decision. Not to hinder investigations. And this ruling won't hinder investigations. If there is evidence of large scale distribution of marijuana, then that evidence needs to be presented, and not just stumbled upon because an officer thought he smelled weed.

But then again,

"If you've got nothing to hide, then you've got nothing to worry about"

Right?

Originally posted by Rasobasi420
JM,
Doesn't a meth lab smell different than the smell of smoked meth? I've never actually smelled either, but I'm sure a meth lab has a symphony of smells from all of the different chemicals used.

When you have that many different chemical smells coming from and RV what else could it be. Plus the smells were similar to meth houses we had raided before.

Now, JM, would that same smell be perceived if someone were just smoking meth? Again, I've never done it myself, or cooked it in a lab, so I'm really curious.

Similar but not a strong.

Originally posted by jsobecky

"The aroma of marijuana must be accompanied by some evidence that the suspects are disposing of the evidence, as opposed to casually consuming it," Justice Ronald Nehring wrote for the majority.

This ruling is limited to marijuana, and doesn't extend beyond that. You an't casually consume a body, or a meth lab.

The judge was wrong, and so are you. It isn't the first time, nor will it be the last.

I was wondering what you meant exactly.

Originally posted by JamesMcMahn

Originally posted by jsobecky

"The aroma of marijuana must be accompanied by some evidence that the suspects are disposing of the evidence, as opposed to casually consuming it," Justice Ronald Nehring wrote for the majority.

This ruling is limited to marijuana, and doesn't extend beyond that. You an't casually consume a body, or a meth lab.

The judge was wrong, and so are you. It isn't the first time, nor will it be the last.

I was wondering what you meant exactly.

JM

I meant that it wasn't the first time that a judge, or that particular member, was wrong.

I pray this ruling doesnt extend to meth in the future. You can smell a meth house by driving by sometimes.

Simply put, the casual consumption of a class C drug vs the production of a class A drug are very different matters, and are judged very differently in a court of law. Since marijuana is the only class C drug that produces an odor when consumed it is unique in this type of enforcement. There are enough differences that this ruling cannot be used as precedent for other situations.

If we were saying that the smell of burning pot could lead to finding the production of marijuana in quantity, it would be a fallacy because it produces a very different smell when grown than when it is consumed. I might buy that not allowing smell to be a factor when investigating a grow room or house may be a hinderance in getting the job done, but as for casual consumption, I thought cops had better things to do than bust a guy for a few grams of pot.

And Jso....

I'll admit that I've been wrong before, but not this time. If you want cops to waste their time every time they catch a subtle whiff of herb, then by all means. But remember, doing that wouldn't allow for much time hunting down the big bad terrorists, or anti-americans now would it.

Originally posted by Rasobasi420
And Jso....

I'll admit that I've been wrong before, but not this time. If you want cops to waste their time every time they catch a subtle whiff of herb, then by all means. But remember, doing that wouldn't allow for much time hunting down the big bad terrorists, or anti-americans now would it.

No, and all those fascists would also get away with murder, wouldn't they, Ras?

Originally posted by jsobecky

Originally posted by Rasobasi420
And Jso....

I'll admit that I've been wrong before, but not this time. If you want cops to waste their time every time they catch a subtle whiff of herb, then by all means. But remember, doing that wouldn't allow for much time hunting down the big bad terrorists, or anti-americans now would it.

No, and all those fascists would also get away with murder, wouldn't they, Ras?

what?

Originally posted by df1

Originally posted by Infoholic
but to the children.

Every time some joker wants to take away individual rights he will parade out "the children". When ever this happens I immediately know that the argument presented is pure hogwash that can not be supported by logic or reason.

I completely agree. It's circular logic and undebatable. I would much rather see violent criminals being handled than people in the privacy of their own home being arrested for toking at home. Sad state of affairs.

[edit on 15-3-2007 by carnival_of_souls2047]

Originally posted by The Parallelogram

Originally posted by jsobecky

Originally posted by Rasobasi420
And Jso....

I'll admit that I've been wrong before, but not this time. If you want cops to waste their time every time they catch a subtle whiff of herb, then by all means. But remember, doing that wouldn't allow for much time hunting down the big bad terrorists, or anti-americans now would it.

No, and all those fascists would also get away with murder, wouldn't they, Ras?

what?

You have voted The Parallelogram for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have one more vote left for this month.

Couldn't have said it better myself P.

Originally posted by carnival_of_souls2047

Originally posted by df1

Originally posted by Infoholic
but to the children.

Every time some joker wants to take away individual rights he will parade out "the children". When ever this happens I immediately know that the argument presented is pure hogwash that can not be supported by logic or reason.

I completely agree. It's circular logic and undebatable. I would much rather see violent criminals being handled than people in the privacy of their own home being arrested for toking at home. Sad state of affairs.

[edit on 15-3-2007 by carnival_of_souls2047]

I have never busted someones house just for pot. I have always been there for another reason like a noise complaint or to serve a warrant.

I agree - don't go easy on them.

The drug war only cost about $35 billion a year. In case you forgot what that looks like :

$35,000,000,000

And the US prisons only have something like +500,000 people locked up for drugs.

It's a good thing too. I'd hate to see that $35 billion and all that prison space and police time go to something like rapist, murders, child molesters and other violent criminals.

FOR THE CHILDREN.

And golly jee, just like the war on terror I bet we can win us this one !

It'd be a stupid idea to make pot legal and then tax it so the US could make an extra billion or three a year INSTEAD of losing money.

Then we could do something dumb like use that money to catch other criminals and stuff.

And marijuana is so dangerous - people die from it all the time (total OD deaths from pot : 0). Not to mention all the diseases marijuana causes. Heart failure, cancer, etc ... oh wait - that's tobacco.

Anytime I've been unfortunate enough to be in the bad company of people who smoke a plant which can yield 4x a much useful fiber as trees I've always noticed how stupid they are, fighting and being loud and causing trouble. Not to mention ALL of the freeway accidents and domestic violence. Oh wait - thats alcohol, the all American past time.

Thinking hurts.
Make.It.Stop.

Originally posted by NoobieDoobieDo
It'd be a stupid idea to make pot legal and then tax it so the US could make an extra billion or three a year INSTEAD of losing money.

Yes it would, you would have potheads staying high all the time, they would be growing their own so it would be a little hard for the government to tax it anyway.

Obviously this won't be the case. It's legal to make your own beer but only about 1% of the people do it.

But even if every single "pot head" as you put it did grow their own marijuana the country would still see a net monetary gain due to revenue not being spent on enforcing the current marijuana laws.

Details details.

Perhaps you are aware that there is a HUGE collection of politicians, judges (including federal), lawyers and presidents WORLDWIDE who all agree that marijuana should be decriminalized.

But anyways - let's keep locking up those blasted dope smokers. Murder and rape isn't that big a deal anyhow.

[edit on 16-3-2007 by NoobieDoobieDo]

Originally posted by NoobieDoobieDo
\Perhaps you are aware that there is a HUGE collection of politicians, judges (including federal), lawyers and presidents WORLDWIDE who all agree that marijuana should be decriminalized.

But anyways - let's keep locking up those blasted dope smokers. Murder and rape isn't that big a deal anyhow.

[edit on 16-3-2007 by NoobieDoobieDo]

The group that supports dicriminalization is very much in the minority.

We do lock up every Murderer, Rapist, and Drug dealer we can. It take a while to get evience on rape and murders cases.