The role of drug-sniffing K-9s is rapidly evolving in police departments across the country as an increasing number of states have legalized recreational marijuana.
legalized recreational marijuana earlier this year, joining a growing number of states, including California. Others have allowed pot for medical use or decriminalized the drug.— Sgt. Blake White, Colorado State Patrol
"Purely from a narcotics-sniffing standpoint, you’re not going to need as many [K-9s] … compared to what we currently have," he continued. That said,"cocaine is still going to be illegal, heroin is still a major problem." NORTH CAROLINA POLICE DEPARTMENT STOPS RESPONDING TO CERTAIN NON-EMERGENCY CRIMES AMID 'STAFFING CRISIS'
In New Jersey, law enforcement officials made the call to stop training K-9s in detecting marijuana in April 2019, over a year before it was legalized. "Colorado is really a learning ground for a lot of things," Sgt. Blake White, a spokesperson for Colorado State Patrol, told Fox News. He added that the state hadn’t been tracking many marijuana-related statistics until recreational use was legalized, at which point there was"a very quick learning curve for us."Blake described Colorado as"a test bed for legal recreational marijuana," with one result being a slow phase-out of marijuana-sniffing police dogs.
Legalization of pot was"a big transition for every officer," Blake said, calling it"more of a mental shift than anything else, just for law enforcement in general."
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