State Sen. William “Bill” Folden (R-Frederick) is sponsoring a bill to allow law enforcement officers to stop and search a vehicle if the odor of cannabis is perceptible from the outside. The bill, titled the Drug Free Roadways Act of 2024, would reverse a key provision of a law passed on the final day of the 2023 legislative session. HB1071, which took effect on July 1, 2023, prohibits law enforcement officers from initiating a stop or search of a person, motor vehicle or other vessel based solely on “the odor of burnt or unburnt cannabis.”
