The real leniency in this case was with the bus driver. The news stories indicate that the citations were made "after a commercial vehicle inspection of the country music star's tour bus."

If the trooper could smell the pot, then the driver almost certainly had sufficient "second hand exposure" to be unable to pass an ICC drug test - which in most circumstances would have been administered by most "commercial vehicle inspectors" under the conditions cited.

Almost any detectable trace of "drugs," for an ICC licensed driver, generally is cause for suspension/revocation of his/her license on the spot. That would have left the entire bus stranded at least until another driver could be brought in to move it, and the driver without a job. One of the "boys in the band" might have driven on with the bus, since a commercial license isn't usually required until you go 50 miles into the next state, but ... he/she most likely wouldn't know how to do the paperwork for the fuel tax sharing at the next POE, so they'd be grounded there anyway.

(It's worth noting that evidence of "exposure" sufficient to yank a commercial driver's license needn't be sufficient for prosecution.)

John