Drug-Sniffing Dogs Pose a Problem in States That Legalized Marijuana

Vader, an 80-pound Belgian Malinois with the Colorado Springs Police Department, knows his job well. At the scent of an illicit drug such as cocaine or marijuana, the dog barks and scratches, pointing officers to the stash. It’s a task he’s performed countless times over the last five years under Andrew Genta, the department’s head K-9 unit trainer. Now that marijuana is legal in the state, however, Vader’s job is becoming more complicated.

Voters in Colorado and Washington State passed ballot measures last November letting people 21 and over possess up to an ounce of pot. That’s left police departments in both states to decide whether to continue using canines that can detect the drug. “There are so many unanswered questions,” Genta says. “There have not been any test cases to say, ‘Yes,’ or ‘No, we do not have the right to do this.’ ”