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iscooterliberally

(2,849 posts)
Wed May 9, 2018, 11:03 AM May 2018

Illinois police: Keep pot illegal -- or we'll kill the dog

As Illinois lawmakers debate whether to become the 10th state to legalize recreational marijuana, a few law enforcement officials in the state have put forth this bizarre argument:

If Illinois legalizes marijuana for recreational use, law enforcement officials fear job losses for hundreds of officers — specifically, the four-legged kind.

Police agencies spend thousands of dollars and months of training to teach dogs how to sniff out and alert officers to the presence of marijuana, heroin, cocaine and other drugs. If pot use becomes legal, the dogs would likely either have to be retrained — which some handlers say is impossible or impractical — or retired.

“The biggest thing for law enforcement is, you’re going to have to replace all of your dogs,” said Macon County Sheriff Howard Buffett, whose private foundation paid $2.2 million in 2016 to support K-9 units in 33 counties across Illinois. “So to me, it’s a giant step forward for drug dealers, and it’s a giant step backwards for law enforcements and the residents of the community.”

Later in the story, a K-9 trainer suggests some or most of the dogs will need to euthanized.

(By the way, if you think it’s weird that a sheriff would have a “personal foundation” capable of spending more than $2 million on drug dog units for other police departments, so did I. It turns out that Sheriff Buffett is the middle child of the billionaire Warren Buffett.)


Here's a link to this story in The Washington Post from yesterday:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2018/05/08/illinois-police-keep-pot-illegal-or-well-kill-the-dog/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.efa190b54895

Yes, we have come to the point where life imitates National Lampoon Magazine I suppose:

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marble falls

(56,353 posts)
11. Not me! I like pleasant surprises, like that lost gram of hash I found six months later picking..
Wed May 9, 2018, 12:18 PM
May 2018

up a dropped last doobie of a baggie, just a a couple of inches under I couch I vacuumed under regularly. The spirit's way of saying "take this brother, may it serve you well."

Found a lost hit of microdot a month or so after it wasn't where I left. I found it right where I left it. The spirit's way of saying "cool it for a couple of weeks."

ExciteBike66

(2,280 posts)
2. How much does it cost to arrest and prosecute people for pot possession?
Wed May 9, 2018, 11:06 AM
May 2018

How much does that cost compare with the cost of dog re-training?

Locrian

(4,522 posts)
13. its the money they lose confiscating property that they're gonna miss
Wed May 9, 2018, 12:50 PM
May 2018

Those fancy armored SUV's and big screen tv's in the lounge cost money don-cha-know.
Not to mention overtime, the relatively low risk of pot offenders, the power trips, etc.

dameatball

(7,380 posts)
4. Dogs get old. I have never heard of them being euthanized at a certain age.
Wed May 9, 2018, 11:10 AM
May 2018

If anything, they can probably be adopted and often are.....by their handlers.

We had an officer in my town do exactly that not long ago.

iscooterliberally

(2,849 posts)
5. I know, it's another absurd argument from the drug prohibitionists.
Wed May 9, 2018, 11:15 AM
May 2018

It's like that DEA agent a couple of years ago that said the wild bunny rabbits were getting stoned on cannabis that was being grown outdoors in Colorado.

GWC58

(2,678 posts)
16. At this point these prohibitionist
Mon Jun 25, 2018, 01:08 PM
Jun 2018

drug warriors are pulling excuses out of their asses, which is causing their sphincter muscles to expand.

SWBTATTReg

(21,856 posts)
7. This is an over-reaction by the IL police and idiotic too...
Wed May 9, 2018, 11:17 AM
May 2018

It's not like these dogs will live to 90 or 100 years old (saying they may have to kill some animals because of reduced demand). Dogs are pretty smart and I think can be retrained (I may be wrong) but the 3 dogs I have seem pretty smart when I move their food/water bowls to mop the kitchen floor (and I forget to tell the dogs where I moved it (usually I led them to the new location and they figure it out immediately)).

n2doc

(47,953 posts)
8. I guess there are no other drugs to worry about.
Wed May 9, 2018, 11:27 AM
May 2018

Got it. No meth or opioid issues in Illinois. Do they have a bridge to sell too?

LakeArenal

(28,713 posts)
9. Beat me by 8 minutes.. Yep, drug problem all solved in IL if pot is legalized.
Wed May 9, 2018, 11:37 AM
May 2018

Hey wait..... Makes all the more sense to legalize it... Hmmm...

HDSam

(251 posts)
10. And yet
Wed May 9, 2018, 11:57 AM
May 2018

none of the other states where marijuana is legal seem to have an issue. I should know, I live in a state that legalized recreational marijuana and have a family member that is a county sheriff’s department K-9 handler. We had several detailed discussions about this and there doesn’t seem to be an issue at this time nor over the last year since the law was enacted.

I do have concerns about dogs alerting on now-legal drugs that result in a search, but they're certainly not considering euthanizing or retiring animals.

GWC58

(2,678 posts)
14. Southern states can ask for them
Fri May 11, 2018, 07:34 AM
May 2018

“We not legalizin marra wanna, so let us use them! We’ve plenty of lives to ruin!!

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