Conn.: Oppose bill to reinstate unjust odor-based stops and searches!

A concerning bill in Connecticut, HB 07204, recently passed unanimously out of the Public Safety and Security Committee. This bill would reinstate cannabis odor as a legal justification for police stops and vehicle searches, eliminating previous protections.
 
HB 07204, sponsored by Rep. Hector Arzeno (D), covers multiple topics related to policing. Alarmingly, it would remove a crucial part of Connecticut’s cannabis legalization law — protections that prevent law enforcement from using the odor of cannabis or possession of a legalized amount of cannabis as probable cause for a stop or search. This bill would once again allow police officers to stop, detain, or search a vehicle solely based on the smell of raw or burnt cannabis. While many provisions of the bill are not cause for concern, this aspect of it threatens the rights of legal cannabis consumers and should be opposed. 
 
If you live in Connecticut, write your lawmakers today, and let them know you are against odor-based stops and searches!
 
The odor of cannabis is now the smell of a legal product, not the evidence of a crime. Individuals who work in the legal cannabis industry often smell like cannabis after work. And the smell of cannabis can linger in consumers’ clothes and hair long after impairment wears off. Reinstating odor-based stops and seizures is outdated, harmful, and in direct opposition to Connecticut’s commitment to criminal justice reform. 
 
Furthermore, studies show that Black and Brown drivers are disproportionately targeted by traffic searches on the basis of the real or feigned odor of cannabis. Allowing this practice perpetuates racial profiling and mistrust in our communities. 
 
This isn’t the only bill attempting to undo protections. Other proposed bills, including HB 05692, HB 05736, HB 06358, and HB 06375, also seek to restore odor-based stops and seizures in Connecticut.