SALISBURY – It started out as a routine traffic stop for a speeding Kia Soul on I-85 early Tuesday morning, but the unmistakable smell of pot created a different scenario for police and the couple in the car.

Salisbury Police Officer Andy Carlton was on 85 Tuesday morning when he noticed the Kia going 80 miles an hour. As the officer stopped the car, he noticed that all the windows were rolled down. Odd, Carlton thought, since the temperature at the time was in the 30′s. But after a few seconds Carlton’s nose told noticed the “strong odor of marijuana” coming from the car.

According to the report, Carlton asked the driver and passenger if there were drugs in the car. The passenger, Alexis Faye Mitchell, 22, of Charlotte, handed Carlton a small marijuana cigarette. Mitchell then showed Carlton more drugs in the car, including 37 grams of pot and some hashish in a Tupperware container. Rolling papers and digital scales were also found in the car.

Mitchell was charged with drug possession and maintaining a car to transport drugs. Mitchell was booked into the jail and released on $5000 bond. The driver, Chalmers Hood, was cited for speeding and released.