ARVANDA, CO – (NBC) Legal weed is ruining the careers of drug dogs in Colorado. That’s because their pot-sniffing skills are pretty much “irrelevant.”
Officers are now training new dogs to sniff out other types of drugs like cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and ecstasy.
Officials predict about 20% of police dogs could be forced into early retirement because they were trained to detect marijuana.
It’s already happened to this dog, named “Beaker” who are now enjoying a “simpler” life at home. But the pot problem doesn’t end there.
Officer Brian Laas, with the Arvada Police Department, said, “If he’s not reliable, we can’t get a probable cause for us to search the car and that is the key thing that these dogs are for.”
Right now, Colorado’s high court is reviewing a decision that says cops using pot-sniffing dogs need a stronger reason to search a car.
“Most of those dogs are anywhere from 5 to 10-thousand dollars alone and that’s at without training. If you get one that’s fully trained, you’re looking at 10 to 15-thousand dollars,” Officer Laas said.
The Colorado Police K-9 Association says it will help adopt dogs and send them to states where marijuana is still illegal.
