Canada - Legal pot puts 14 RCMP sniffer dogs out of work

S.J.B.

S.J.B.

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Legal pot puts 14 RCMP sniffer dogs out of work
CBC
July 24th, 2018

The upcoming legalization of marijuana in Canada is expected to create a lot of jobs for people, but it's putting one group of dogs out of work.

Fourteen RCMP interdiction dogs, which are used primarily to search for drugs, are being retired or sold to other forces because their training to sniff marijuana could cause problems for Crown prosecutors once pot is no longer illegal to possess.

"Our interdiction dogs are often used to form grounds to continue searching or to arrest people," said Staff Sgt. Gary Creed, a senior trainer with the RCMP's police dog service in Innisfail, Alta., where all of the national police force's dogs are trained.

If they are trained to sniff marijuana, some of their evidence would not be admissible in court, he said.

Some of the interdiction dogs were already close to the end of their working lives and will be retired as pets. Five or six others will likely be sold to other forces or agencies.
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Read the full story here.
 
What an excellent consequence of cannabis legalization: the smell of cannabis will no longer be a valid justification for a warrantless search, since it will no longer be a likely indicator of criminal activity.
 
For the record, I happen to state the following as someone who is a dog-loving person rather than cat: Boo-fucking-hoo, eh?

In all seriousness, I just pray none of them are euthanized. And I also hope that threats to euthanize dogs as a consequence of legalization doesn't become anywhere near commonplace. Cannabis is being legalized - get over it. Go and do some actual police work wherein which a victimless crime isn't committed. Should have never been made illegal in the first place (thanks Harry Anslinger & Co. - bigoted asshats).
 
Yeah,they better not switch to murdering dogs that they themselves (the pigs) claim to be 'heroes' whenever they perform or get capped by some thug nigga type running gear as a result of the way the dogs have been enslaved, so the pigs can get one last fix, one last shot in the arm of pure unmitigated malice and evil before the game is up and its 'fuck you, go stick them trotters right up your arses and ram them upwards until you choke to death on your own shit and lies, bastard'

Because it'd not surprise me at ALL if these otherwise healthy dogs were just taken out and shot in the head by a pig with a pig issue shotgun, the same cop blindfolding the animals and making 'cootchiecootchie coo whos a goood doggy, who's getting a tweat yes yooosagooddoggy you gedding a special tweat' before they 'retire' the drug dogs.

I've always known they are an enemy, drug dogs. But that they are effectively conscript soldiers; or the equivalent of conscript child soldiers in some 4th-world shitprovince of some part of africa even the africans don't want but just because it's on whatever buttfuck countrie's global border, they have to go start a war and send kids to die over it to begin with.

Drug dogs are the enemy alright, but they are poor unfortunate bastards. To have been forced through the training that will bring the animals who don't have any IDEA of the lives they are destroying, families they will ruin, or how likely playing the games for a treat from master is just as likely to get them a lead slug blowing their head into red mist instead.

Sick fucking cunts, pigs. There just isn't a word for how badly we need rid of them. Only good pork is roast pork.
 
I'll take one of those dogs. I promise to feed and take care of it, and once in a while I'll let it sniff out some of my smoke just for old times sake :)
 
^ could be quite handy in dry times.
"Go for a walk boy?! Let's find daddy his medicine!"

SunriseChampion said:
For the prices you guys pay for it I'm surprised anyone bothers. My friend in Perth also tells me it's not the best quality.
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All about who you know :)
Customs may stand between australians and quality north american herb, but the technology can't really be held back.
Personally, i've been getting fucking killer weed lately - some canadian strains too.
But i also got great weed when i lived in perth.
You guys in north america are definitely behind all the innovation that's happened in the last 5-10 years, but cannabis is pretty global, and decent growers can deliver the goods wherever they're located.

But it is true that we're a bloody long way behind when it comes to law reform.
New Zealand will have a referendum about cannabis legalisation later this year, so hopefully we'll be dragged along with the tide.
Tbh i think the shitty conservative australian political forces that have long held us back on this issue are watching the situation in the US very closely - if there is one thing conservatives can all get behind, it is making obscene amounts of money.
A lot of rich folks in australia have been investing in the fledgling cannabis industry over here, so i'm quietly confident.

As for the drug doggos - unlike human workers, i have no issue with dogs being put out of work

Some of the interdiction dogs were already close to the end of their working lives and will be retired as pets. Five or six others will likely be sold to other forces or agencies.
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I reckon this is a good news story :)
 
I mean I hate to say never but those dogs (officers) will never be killed. Almost every handler takes their dog as a pet once it retires. Sounds like the younger ones are getting sold to continue their careers. And most likely will end up their pets when they do finally retire. They (the police force) have way too much invested in tbose animals to take them out bac, so to speak. Of course, that would never happen anyway. Actually, I wonder if those younger ones could be retrained to detect heroin or cocaine or something else so they could continue to work.

FTR, I totally love both dogs and cats (hell, what am I saying, I love all animals!).
 
I very much doubt they could be retrained, given they have already been forced through intensive schwinhund-training.

They'd remember their old conditioning and give constant alerts for the green when the filth are actually looking for say, MD(m)A, meth, a brick in the snout etc.
 
spacejunk said:
All about who you know :)
Customs may stand between australians and quality north american herb, but the technology can't really be held back.
Personally, i've been getting fucking killer weed lately - some canadian strains too.
But i also got great weed when i lived in perth.
You guys in north america are definitely behind all the innovation that's happened in the last 5-10 years, but cannabis is pretty global, and decent growers can deliver the goods wherever they're located.

But it is true that we're a bloody long way behind when it comes to law reform.
New Zealand will have a referendum about cannabis legalisation later this year, so hopefully we'll be dragged along with the tide.
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Yeah, that makes sense. My friend is a recent immigrant from Toronto so it's probably her not really knowing where to look. Sad for her as we used to call her ganjarella.

Nice, hopefully the Kiwis come through. I reckon they're quite reasonable people.
 
BeachBum4u said:
I mean I hate to say never but those dogs (officers) will never be killed. Almost every handler takes their dog as a pet once it retires. Sounds like the younger ones are getting sold to continue their careers. And most likely will end up their pets when they do finally retire.
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Truth. Those police dogs are much loved by their handlers, it's not like the relationship is strictly "business" - they are considered to be police officers - and they're not seen as expendable as other working animals like racehorses or greyhounds, which are often slaughtered when they no longer serve their purpose.
I don't know what typically happens to police horses, but i doubt that they are all granted a dignified retirement and "put out to pasture" - but i could be wrong.
Gotta feel for the dogs - and the horses even more so - the stuff those poor beasts are put through in training and in the line of duty is pretty fucking barbaric.

One of my favourite musings is is "why are there no police cats?"

(Answer: because cats are bad-asses ;))

SunriseChampion said:
Yeah, that makes sense. My friend is a recent immigrant from Toronto so it's probably her not really knowing where to look. Sad for her as we used to call her ganjarella.
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Yeah, it's not easy - i moved across the country a couple of years ago and its taken a bit of time - and some trial-and-error - to find quality bud.
Even though i had little trouble getting good weed in perth, it was pricey - double what i've paid for ounces of comparable quality in melbourne, but it is plentiful in the right circles.

SunriseChampion said:
Nice, hopefully the Kiwis come through. I reckon they're quite reasonable people.
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Yeah, i reckon they'll get there :)
Legalising recreational use of cannabis by 2020 was one of the priorities the NZ prime minister laid out when she came to power.
New Zealand has a history of being a pretty socially progressive nation (much more than australia) and their PM seems to be continuing in that tradition. I think she's pretty fucking awesome :)
The thing is though - you can't fight progress.
Cannabis legalisation will have so many positive benefits for society - not just economic and social, but i think it's a step in the right direction. Even just providing people an accessible alternative to alcohol is a pretty big thing.
I know that it would be a great thing in australia, especially for people who are caught up in really unhealthy patterns of substance abuse - namely, the indigenous communities in that have massive issues with alcohol and solvent abuse.

Weed won't solve those problems, but it is infinitely safer for people who resort to destructive options (like sniffing petrol, which is a serious problem in lots of outback communities here in australia.

As an illegal drug, cannabis can be really expensive and you risk prosecution for possessing it, but if we legalised it, cannabis is (or can be) easy and dirt cheap to cultivate. Among the main reasons people resort to hufffing solvents is the ease of access and low cost - but legal weed could make that redundant.
 
spacejunk;14380316 Yeah said:
was[/I] pricey - double what i've paid for ounces of comparable quality in melbourne, but it is plentiful in the right circles.
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Man, I told her to go live in Melbourne! ;) In fact, one of the reasons she moved to Australia was because of the stories my sister told her....about living in Melbourne. We still aren't sure why she ended up in Perth. hahahaaaa


Yeah, i reckon they'll get there :)
Legalising recreational use of cannabis by 2020 was one of the priorities the NZ prime minister laid out when she came to power.
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Cool, I wasn't aware of that. The political news we get here about NZ is, as you can probably imagine, a bit lacking.


New Zealand has a history of being a pretty socially progressive nation (much more than australia) and their PM seems to be continuing in that tradition. I think she's pretty fucking awesome :)
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Yeah, some of us Canucks compare Australia and NZ to the US and Canada, respectively. Maybe some truth to that.

The thing is though - you can't fight progress.
Cannabis legalisation will have so many positive benefits for society - not just economic and social, but i think it's a step in the right direction. Even just providing people an accessible alternative to alcohol is a pretty big thing.
I know that it would be a great thing in australia, especially for people who are caught up in really unhealthy patterns of substance abuse - namely, the indigenous communities in that have massive issues with alcohol and solvent abuse.

Weed won't solve those problems, but it is infinitely safer for people who resort to destructive options (like sniffing petrol, which is a serious problem in lots of outback communities here in australia.

As an illegal drug, cannabis can be really expensive and you risk prosecution for possessing it, but if we legalised it, cannabis is (or can be) easy and dirt cheap to cultivate. Among the main reasons people resort to hufffing solvents is the ease of access and low cost - but legal weed could make that redundant.
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Truth. Here we also have had issues with First Nations and Inuit kids huffing petrol. It seems to be an on/off issue as I don't believe it's a constant. Needless to say, many First Nations and Inuit communities also have alcohol abuse problems....some are even dry settlements.

I'm sort of excited for the upcoming legalisation, though, I dare say, it's come with some draconian control measures. For example, the limit on personal plant production (4 plants, no bigger than a certain size). There's no equivalent limit on how much wine one can produce at home, so I don't understand the problem. I think any informed person can say with confidence that alcohol is no less dangerous than weed. We still have a ways to go to seeing logical and reasonable drugs laws in Canada, but I guess this is a good first step.

I'll be watching to see how the Kiwis handle it.
 
SunriseChampion said:
I'm sort of excited for the upcoming legalisation, though, I dare say, it's come with some draconian control measures. For example, the limit on personal plant production (4 plants, no bigger than a certain size).
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You'll be glad to hear that they dropped the height limit in the final bill.
 
S.J.P. said:
You'll be glad to hear that they dropped the height limit in the final bill.
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Ah, the Senate amendments, eh?

Nice, but we still have a silly 4 plant personal growth limit. I mean, personally, I'm not affected, as I can't touch weed too much as it gives me anxiety and panic attacks so I would maybe grow a single plant as part of my garden.
But still, it's a silly limit.
 
Spacejunk - Totally Love the cat joke. We have
two badass cats in our house. Also, police horses are also retired with respect and well cared for, from what I've heard. I kind of think most animals tbat work in the military and law enforcement aren't discarded in any manner whatsoever.
 
BeachBum4u said:
Also, police horses are also retired with respect and well cared for, from what I've heard. I kind of think most animals tbat work in the military and law enforcement aren't discarded in any manner whatsoever.
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I hope that is the case, as they deserve it. I never cease to be amazed at humans' hypocrisy when it comes to the value of lifeforms other than our own.

Police dogs are considered to be police officers, yet racing greyhounds are neglected and treated cruelly, then often killed if and when they no longer serve their purpose. Without going into detail, people in the racing industry sometimes do horrifying things to their dogs.

....and yet people in the west get upset about people in asia eating dog. A lot of those people probably never give a second thought where their bacon comes from.

And the banning of cannabis has always seemed utterly bizarre to me. Who are we to ban a harmless, naturally occurring plant? The idea of making one of "god's creations" (whatever that means to you) illegal has always seemed crazy to me.

Crazier still is that the period in history in which government leaders of the western world were pushing the global prohibition of cannabis (an incredibly useful plant for medicine, food and various materials) really hard, was also period of time which tobacco was enthusiastically embraced, to the extent that cigarettes were issued to soldiers as a part of the rations of various armies in both world wars, and even medicine.
I've heard anecdotes of pregnant women being encouraged to smoke (because smaller baby = easier birth, apparently) as recently as the 1960s.
It's interesting how much some things change - and yet, how much they stay the same.
 
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