OCEAN CITY, Md. - After July 1 in Maryland, adults are unlikely to be searched for marijuana in their cars. The new marijuana law makes it illegal for police to search the vehicle of any person over the age of 21 based on the smell of marijuana during a traffic stop.
Ashley Miller, the deputy communications manager at the Ocean City Police Department, said that all minors need to be aware of the law.
"If you are under the age of 21, it is not legal for you to possess or consume under the new law," Miller said. "We have had incidents where we have searched vehicles and made arrests."
Austin Joseph is 19 years old and lives in Maryland. He said the new law violates his rights.
"If the police just smell a scent of marijuana, that should be nowhere near enough to get your car searched," Joseph said. "It's not fair that the people that just walk by and get secondhand smoke on them can possibly get in trouble."
But the Ocean City Police Department said there is good reason to do these searches with cause.
"We have come across a couple of cars in the month of July that we have searched and we have found weapons," Miller said. "That's at least an avenue in which we are still able to get the weapons off of the street. That's our main concern, we want to make sure that everybody in the town of Ocean City is safe."
Some like Ron Clarkson said, to him, this new marijuana law is about the safety of the public.
"If they check your vehicle, that goes into the safety of the kids because the teenagers are kids," Clarkson said. "I believe that whatever they find, if it's something illegal, they should be allowed to confiscate it."
The Ocean City Police Department cautions people to not smoke marijuana and drive.