The legalization of recreational pot in Ohio has an expensive side effect that hurts local police agencies – it’s making 400 Ohio K9 Officers basically useless.
Those dogs were trained to alert to pot as well as other drugs and often explosives. However, that means the dogs will alert to legal marijuana, which could lead to officers searching where they don’t have a right. That means that even if officers discovered heroin in a vehicle, it’s possible that the dog might be alert to the legal pot, which means police had no right to search.
That means police agencies need brand-new dogs that can perform other essential duties, such as tracking and assisting officers in subduing suspects.
The problem is K9 officers cost between $15,000 and $45,000 per dog. Ohio Representatives Sean Brennan and Josh Williams are sponsoring a bill that would provide each local Ohio police agency with $20,000 to help them get new police dogs that don’t alert to pot.