DAYTON — Two state lawmakers are looking to find ways to help law enforcement agencies that will have to replace marijuana-sniffing dogs after Ohio voters approved the legalization of recreational marijuana.
House Bill 396 sets out to “provide funding for the replacement of police dogs imprinted to detect marijuana, to reimburse those expenses for adult use excise tax revenue, and to make an appropriation.”
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Nearly 400 police dogs trained in marijuana detection across the state will need to be retired because they can’t be reliably retrained, the Associated Press reported.
The bill, co-sponsored by State Representatives Sean Brennan (D-Parma) and Josh Williams (R-Sylvania), would provide each agency with $20,000 per dog. The money would be used for the purchase, training, and equipment related to the replacement dog, which would not alert to the smell of marijuana.
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To kickstart this transition, the state would allocate $6 million. That amount would then be reimbursed from the cannabis social equity and jobs fund, a fund created from tax revenue from eventual recreational marijuana sales, once that fund allocates enough money.
H.B. 396 is working its way through the House of Representatives.