If a police officer conveys he smells marijuana emanating from inside your vehicle, generally speaking, this would allow him the authority to conduct a search. Unfortunately , Texas law states that if an officer can articulate that he smells the owner of either fresh marijuana or burning marijuana, courts have ruled that the odor of contraband gives officers probable cause to perform a search. For this reason, police are very prone to claim that they smell something (like marijuana), and sometimes (yes this is true) they might even lie about it.

All you can really do if this happens is to make clear you DO NOT CONSENT TO ANY SEARCH OF YOUR VEHICLE. If they search you anyway and something is found, you’ll need an attorney to help you fight the charges. Unfortunately, police sometimes use tricks like this to circumvent your constitutional rights and there’s no perfect way to handle the situation. Of course, they are most likely to do this if they are suspicious of you for some reason, so do your best to stay calm.

In some cases, a police officer may mention marijuana just to see how you will react. If you appear nervous, the officer’s suspicions will escalate.

The best advice to avoid this situation is to never smoke marijuana in or around your car. A very important thing to remember is you shouldn’t ever put anything in your vehicle that is illegal if a police officer may be able to smell it.