Alton Police Officer Clarifies Illinois Cannabis Laws

Alton City Council Meeting

ALTON – An Alton Police Lieutenant says the department is working daily to educate local residents who commonly misunderstand state cannabis laws.

At this week’s City Council meeting, Alderman John Meehan said his “sensitive nose” has been detecting the smell of cannabis coming from cars in traffic. He asked Lieutenant Emily Hejna with the Alton Police Department whether such a strong smell coming from someone’s car would give officers enough authority to pull them over.

Hejna took the opportunity to make a few cannabis-related clarifications, adding the Alton public largely misunderstands what actual Illinois law says about proper cannabis storage and more.

“Our community is very misinformed about cannabis laws,” Hejna said. “A lot of times, people think that they can have it on their person – they cannot. They cannot be smoking it whenever it’s able to be seen.”

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She then clarified that only cannabis purchased from a legal dispensary which is still sealed in its original packaging can be carried on one’s person, but that “you cannot just walk around with a dime bag – unfortunately, a lot of our community does not understand that.”

The same applies to carrying cannabis in a vehicle, as it is “illegal to transport cannabis in a vehicle unless the cannabis is in a reasonably secured, sealed container and it is reasonably inaccessible while the vehicle is moving,” according to the city website, which adds it is “also illegal to use cannabis in any motor vehicle.”

To answer Meehan’s question, Hejna said officers can only pull a vehicle over if they have probable cause, and a strong odor alone is sometimes not enough to warrant a traffic stop. She said it depends on “the totality of the circumstances,” or all the information an officer has at the time, meaning there’s no “blanket answer” for each situation. However, she said traffic stops have been on the rise lately and credited Alton officers with “getting a lot of drugs and a lot of guns off of the street.”

The Alton Police Department asks the public to contact them at 618-463-3505 with any questions about recreational cannabis laws in Illinois, with more details available here.

“A lot of our community believes it’s totally legal, and our officers are every day having the conversation with folks and trying to educate them,” Hejna added.

A full recording of the March 11, 2026 Alton City Council meeting is available at the top of this story or on Riverbender.com/video.

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