Pot-sniffing dogs out of a job as marijuana becomes legal in Oregon

As Oregon moves closer to it's first sale of recreational marijuana on July 1st, 2015, certain law enforcement may find their jobs have become obsolete. Thats right, drug sniffing dogs, specifically ones that are trained to find marijuana, may soon be out of a job in Oregon and other states because you cannot teach an old dog new tricks, or unteach a dog to sniff for marijuana. Most state's retain laws that limit larger amounts of marijuana, so some dogs will keep their jobs specifically in search of interstate transportation, while other dogs will be retired and live the rest of their lives in luxery.

Because it's difficult to retrain a dog on what to search for with its nose, one or both dogs may be phased out. Medford police have requested $24,000 in the upcoming city budget for new dogs trained to smell only heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine, and not marijuana. Each dog costs $12,000, an amount that includes extensive training and certification.