KANSAS CITY, MO — The legalization of recreational marijuana in Missouri is causing many drug-sniffing police dogs to retire early or shift to other duties. It is now legal to possess 3 ounces or less of marijuana in Missouri.
The Kansas City Missouri Police Department is retiring three canines that were originally trained to detect the scent of marijuana and other illegal drugs.
“I’ve been working with Mike for over three years. He’s a five-and-a-half-year-old Belgian Malinois,” KCPD Police Officer, K-9 Handler Yale Acton said. “He is a very successful dog in the three years I got to work with him.”
KCPD K9 Mike recently retired. His handler, Officer Acton, says typically police canines are retired when they are 8-10 years old. “So that they can spend the last few years of their life just being a dog and enjoying it,” Acton said. “Mike being five-and-a-half-years old, he’s still full of spit and vinegar and high drive. Very energetic.”
The KCPD Canine Section and the Clay County Sheriff’s Office began preparing for a change in Missouri marijuana laws. “The good news is they retire with their handler. They retire with the person they’ve worked with the whole time,” Clay County Sheriff Public Relations Manager Sarah Boyd said. “They just get to hang out and be a pet.”
Seven-year-old K-9 Blaze was Clay County’s last patrol dog that was trained to detect marijuana. “Based on the change in the law, we had anticipated that,” Boyd said….
