Pubdate: Thu, 21 Mar 2013
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Column: Inside the Beltway
Copyright: 2013 The Washington Times, LLC.
Contact:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author: Jennifer Harper
Page: A2

THE NOSE KNOWS NO MORE

Narcotics dogs have one less job to do in the state of Washington. 
Now that marijuana has become legal within the borders, many law 
enforcement agencies, including the Seattle Police Department and 
Washington State Patrol, will no longer train their drug-sniffing 
canines to alert handlers to marijuana.

The Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, in fact, advised 
police that their pooches were not required to smell out the 
once-illegal stuff; the task has been eliminated already from the 
doggy performance standards test. But it's complicated.

Officers will no longer be able to rely solely on a sniffer dog's 
alert when determining probable cause for a search warrant, according 
to the association. Police must now inform judges that a narcotics 
dog might be alerting for a "legal" amount of marijuana, Washington 
State Patrol spokesman Bob Caulkins, told KATU-TV, an ABC affiliate.

"Moving forward, it makes most sense not to train dogs to alert to 
marijuana as that would likely lead to unwarranted investigatory 
detentions of people who are not breaking any law," said Alison 
Holcomb, drug policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union.

The state of Washington, meanwhile, has hired a $300-per-hour "pot 
czar" to help communities and officials ease into a cannabis-friendly 
marketplace. Ironically, an out-ofstate group won the job: 
Massachusetts-based Botec Analysis Corp. was chosen over 112 other groups.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom