This year, legalized recreational cannabis was supposed to dominate the news in Illinois and elsewhere (other things happened). In their October Illinois Bar Journal article, “What’s That Smell?,” Emily L. Fitch and Brenda M. (Duke) Mathis revisit Illinois’ new cannabis-related laws and follow the legal issues sprouting from cannabis legalization. They conclude multiple issues remain to be clarified by legislative action and caselaw, including questions surrounding probable cause with the scent of cannabis alone and whether a free air sniff is sufficient when the dog has been trained to detect cannabis. Up to this point, Illinois courts have placed only limited restrictions on free air sniffs. However, it does appear that the reviewing courts are prepared to throw out a prosecutorial-minded approach to the free air sniff and write new caselaw in the face of cannabis legalization. Fitch and Mathis also summarize new cannabis laws and compare Illinois with other states revisiting probable-search caselaw in light of cannabis legalization.

Read more in the October issue of the Illinois Bar Journal.