{"id":49669,"date":"2020-01-27T18:37:06","date_gmt":"2020-01-27T18:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/weed-sniffing-k-9s-in-new-york-are-getting-hounded-into-early-retirement\/"},"modified":"2020-01-27T18:37:06","modified_gmt":"2020-01-27T18:37:06","slug":"weed-sniffing-k-9s-in-new-york-are-getting-hounded-into-early-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/weed-sniffing-k-9s-in-new-york-are-getting-hounded-into-early-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"Weed-Sniffing K-9s in New York Are Getting Hounded into Early Retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a growing number of states legalize medical marijuana, hemp, and adult-use cannabis, law enforcement agencies no longer need K-9 units trained to sniff out pot. Last year, New Jersey’s attorney general announced<\/u><\/a> that the state would stop training dogs to sniff for pot to prepare for the state’s recent push for adult-use legalization<\/u><\/a> (which has yet to materialize<\/u><\/a>).<\/p>\n

Some of New York’s pot-sniffing canines are also on their way to early retirement. Governor Andrew Cuomo renewed<\/u><\/a> his promise to legalize adult-use cannabis in the Empire State this year, a decision that would make most weed-sniffing K-9s counterproductive. But, regardless of whether the adult-use bill succeeds in 2020, New York legalized medical marijuana in 2014 and hemp in 2015 \u2014 and there is no recognizable olfactory difference between legal and illegal forms of cannabis.<\/p>\n

Last fall, the Erie County Sheriff’s Office decided to retire five veteran narcotics detection K-9s and replace them with new dogs that are trained not to alert on the scent of cannabis. “We believe, in the Sheriff\u2019s Office, that the writing\u2019s on the wall,” said Undersheriff Mark Wipperman to <\/u>The Buffalo News<\/em><\/u><\/a>. These new dogs were purchased with asset forfeiture<\/u><\/a> money, which is often seized from suspects during drug-related arrests.<\/p>\n

The decision has been difficult for existing K-9 handlers, many of whom have bonded with their dogs. Sheriff Deputy Robert Galbraith told <\/u>The Buffalo News<\/em><\/u><\/a> that giving up Apollo, the K-9 who he’s been working with for years, \u201cwould be kind of like giving up a family member.” The Erie County Legislature is currently working on a resolution that would allow handlers to adopt their retired dogs for only $1, to ensure that they can end up in good homes.<\/p>\n