Loose cannabis is like spilled beer, not open container in car, state Supreme Court rules

This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.

California cops can’t stop or cite drivers under the state’s “open container” rules for cannabis unless the product is rolled or otherwise ready to consume, the California Supreme Court ruled Friday.“The question before us is whether a small amount of loose marijuana scattered on the rear floor of a car violates [the open container] provision,” Justice Goodwin Liu wrote for the court.

“We hold it does not.” The case arose after Sacramento police spotted a dusting of loose “crumbs” in the back of a car they had pulled over for a rolling stop.The debris weighed about a third of a gram — roughly the same as a dollar bill, or the contents of an average joint — and was not “accessible for consumption,” according to the decision.

California Jury selection was scheduled to began in L.A.County Superior Court on Tuesday in the first of a series of closely-watched lawsuits seeking to prove social apps inflict harm on children, but a last-minute agreement by TikTok left uncertainty around how the case would proceed.Nevertheless, police cited the “open container” law as probable cause to search the car, and turned up an unregistered handgun, for which the passenger was charged.

“No officer suggested he was concerned that [the driver or passenger] could have somehow, while riding in the front of the car, collected the scattered bits of marijuana from the rear floor behind [the passenger] for imminent consumption,” Liu wrote.“The officers had no reason to believe that any marijuana was recently rolled, and the officers did not suspect impaired driving, underscoring the disconnect between the scattered bits of loose marijuana on the rear floor and potential for imminent consumption.” Friday’s decision draws a much sharper boundary around what can be considered an “open container” under California law.

Liu wrote that, until recently, the “provi...