CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Look to the west. That purple haze over the horizon is from Minnesota, where a law legalizing recreational marijuana took effect yesterday.
There is an unfortunate consequence for police departments there. Every police dog in Minnesota will be retired. They’re all trained to sniff out illegal drugs, including pot. They can’t be untrained to ignore one smell. And courts have already indicated that searching a car after a dog detects a substance that’s no longer illegal is invalid. The police dogs have to go.
This is an unfortunate waste of police resources. A police dog costs $10,000. The dog’s handler is willing to accept the special training and accept the dog into their house – not every police officer can do that. Those dogs will now become their very expensive pets. Will there be enough other officers and dogs who are willing to fill the void?
Legalizing marijuana is a horrible public policy. It literally dumbs down our workforce. Who would be happy to know that the contractor who works on your house, or the mechanic who repairs your car, or the person who prepares you taxes, or the health care worker who assists your doctor has a marijuana habit?
We’ve been told that governments can now capture lost revenue by taxing marijuana sales and taking the criminal element out of being pot dealers. That’s completely untrue. There is no state that’s legalized marijuana that’s cut spending to correspond with their new revenue stream. A tax on marijuana merely gives these states more money to spend on other things. And in California, many dispensaries are closing. Pot users had found that their corner dealers have more potent pot than what the government offers. Dealers haven’t been put out of business; they’re keeping their customers by offering a superior product.
I’m on the side of the police K-9s. States that legalize marijuana have gone to the dogs.
Chris Conley
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