Marijuana.com

Smokalicious

If a cop encounters you while your high and you smell like pot and you look stoned, but don't have any weed or paraphenalia on you, can they arrest you/cite you or anything like that?

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CheebaMonkey

Not too sure on that though.

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Niteshift

It depends on your location. In some states yes, in some states no.

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WNB

To get cited for public intoxication, don't you have to fail some sort of sobriety test?

Also, would cops really bother to bust someone who doesn't even have weed on them?

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zoltron

Hiya, NS, if you were driving, though,
couldn't you be cited for 'Driving while Under Influence of Con-
trolled Substance'?

 

FadedToBlack

I think they can search you. Obviously they can't just slap some cuffs on and throw you in the car. If they think you are high they can search you. If they find anything on you, they can arrest you. Although, I don't know all this for sure, that is how it works around here.

punx

And do you have a right to deny a search.

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zoltron

yeah, you can deny a search...then you have to wait until the
cops bring the dreaded 'Dog' into the picture...and the dog will
find it.............................................:sp lat:

PublicDefender

Every state has different laws and some counties and cities have their own laws with respect to public intoxication. In my state the law says that a "person commits the offense of public intoxication if he appears in a public place manifestly under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance to the degree and under circumstances such that he is likely to endanger himself or other persons or property, or that he unreasonably annoys persons in his vicinity."

So, where I live it would be difficult to make a public intox charge stick for someone who is just standing there looking stoned and not doing anything that appears risky to himself, others or property.

Can the cop search you? That depends. If he questions you and in the process you give him any reason to "fear for his safety," however scant or contrived it may be, he might just pat you down for "weapons." And if he happens to feel something he knows from his years of experience to be a pot pipe or something, he could conceivably take it from you and bust you.

More likely though is that he'll just ask to search you and you'll give consent. People almost always seem to do that. It never ceases to amaze me. I can't tell you how many of my clients have either believed a cop when the cop told him it would be easier on him if he consented to the search, or just let the cop intimidate him into granting consent to search. Just don't do it, ever, whether you are carrying drugs or not. I'm as straight laced as they come but I wouldn't let those S.O.B.'s search me, my vehicle or my home without a warrant. I'm not enabling them in their predatory practices. Besides, they might plant drugs on me. It's certainly happened to people here before. At least one local officer (former) was caught doing it just a few years back. The best thing to do is to politely say no to the search, tell the officer you need to get going and ask to leave. Don't get into a big conversation with him because he's just fishing for reasons to search you. Answer his basic questions truthfully about who you are and where you are going and then tell him you need to move on.

As for the dogs, I don't know about other places, but it seems highly unlikely that the police would bring in the K9 unit for some guy standing there looking high but otherwise minding his own business. That's something more often done in traffic stops on the highway where there are drug courier indicators present. This is a big business where I live. The police are parked out on the highway looking for anyone driving out of state rental cars or anyone with tags from places like California, Arizona or New Mexico. They are especially interested in people DWH (Driving While Hispanic). On a short stretch of highway just a few miles long, our cops are busting several hundred pounds of weed every month. Our office gets most of these cases as these people are just mules with no money to hire lawyers. The drug war plunder in the form of money and vehicles seized goes to the drug fund that pays for important things like private vehicles for all of our prosecuting attorneys and memberships for all of them at the gym.

zoltron

Let's say it is a traffic stop and the only reason you were stopped
is something stupid, like a burnt license plate bulb or taillight, and
when the cop approaches your car, he just says he thinks he
smells weed in the car. He then asks for permission to search the
vehicle and you say 'no'...can't he then say he's calling the K-9
unit for further investigating? And you have to sit there and wait
for the pot-pooch to arrive, right?...........................