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Law‑enforcement backs stopping active cannabis consumption while advocates and industry warn odor‑based stops risk wrongful searches
Summary
Police leaders said HB 7258 would let officers stop drivers they observe actively consuming cannabis and align enforcement with alcohol rules, but medical patients, advocates and industry speakers warned that odor‑based stops are subjective, risk disproportionate enforcement and that current blood/metabolite tests do not reliably indicate immediate impairment.
Police leaders told the Judiciary Committee on March 31 that HB 7258 — which would allow officers to stop a motor vehicle when an officer observes active consumption of cannabis — would align cannabis enforcement with the existing rules for alcohol and improve roadway safety. But cannabis consumers, civil‑liberties advocates and some medical users warned legislators that smell‑based stops will reinstate pretext policing and harm medical and daily users.
Rob Rosado, chief of police in Meriden and president of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association, said his association "strongly support[s]" HB 7258. "It is entirely reasonable and necessary that the same standard as consuming an alcoholic beverage be applied for the use of cannabis," Rosado said, telling the committee the change would allow officers to stop a vehicle when they observe someone actively consuming cannabis and then investigate for impairment.
Rosado also…
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