SEPTEMBER 8, 2015, 3:51 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015, 8:25 AM
BY SALVADOR RIZZO
STATE HOUSE BUREAU |
THE RECORD
New Jersey has been running a medical marijuana program since 2010, but that does not mean the drug has been legalized, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday.
Police may still search people without a warrant when they detect the smell of marijuana, the appeals panel said in a ruling that is binding on all New Jersey trial courts.
A three-judge panel rejected an appeal filed by a South Jersey man who argued that “possession of marijuana is no longer illegal in all instances” because the state opened the door to non-criminal uses of the drug by enacting the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act in 2010.
George A. Myers was arrested in Cumberland County in 2012 after a state police trooper found him in a parked car in an area where gunfire had been reported. Myers was not enrolled in the medical marijuana program at the time of his arrest, according to the court record.