It's not a violation of the "open container" law to have tiny, unusable crumbs of marijuana that was spilled onto the back seat of a vehicle. There's no "container" at all. And even though, sometimes, it might violate the law even if there isn't a container -- Justice Liu is exactly right that it'd be silly for "an open bag of marijuana gummies in the center
console" to violate the statute but not "the same gummies dumped into the console" -- here, the .36 grams (!) of “weed crumbs scattered on
the rear floorboard behind and under the passenger seat" totally doesn't qualify as something illegal.
It's just common sense. Exactly right. Every word.
Though there's actually one thing I'm not sure is entirely accurate these days.
Justice Liu quotes the Voter Information Packet for Prop. 64 to note that "marijuana is 'most common[ly]' smoked and that
users '[t]ypically' smoke only 'dried flowers'." (The opinion mentions this to highlight that the presence or absence of paraphernalia for smoking may be a significant factor in whether the weed is actually usable.)
Maybe that was true back in 2016, but I suspect that, in the modern era, edibles and other alternatives have taken the lead. Even in 2018, available statistics indicate that only 58% of marijuana use was smoked flower, with edibles, dabs, drinks and other alternatives comprising the remaining 42%. As of 2023, it looks like flower was basically tied with edibles (only 6% higher), and I'd wager a fair piece that the pro-edible trend has only increased since then.
Now, I'm not blaming Justice Liu. He and other other Justices may perhaps not have deep personal knowledge of contemporary marijuana consumption patterns. (Though, who knows: I could be wrong.)
But my own limited interaction with the Modern Youth of California may suggest that dried flower is increasingly old school. It still exists, for sure, as the pungent aroma emanating from the beach parking lot across the street from my house attests pretty much every single sunset. But edibles, FWIW, are the new Thing.
