I will be going to get a K9 for my department next month. I have not had any training as a K9 handler. The dog I will be getting will be trained for the basic drugs (marijauna, heroin, cocaine, crack, meth)however; the biggest problem we have here is trafficking in controlled substances such as OxyContin, Xanex, Lorcet and Methadone. How hard will it be to train a dog on these odors? I know a trainer/handler with the state police that is willing to help me and he said we could have the dog hitting on these drugs within about 2 weeks. Any input on this would be helpful as I am new and have a lot to learn.

While I can't comment on the specifics of training your K9 to alert on these odors (LOTS of the handlers on this board can!), a little red flag went up in my mind when you started talking about substances which are legal with a prescription.

One of the biggest advantages of having a K9 is establishing probable cause (PC) to believe that there are illegal substances in a vehicle, then using the automobile exception to the warrant requirement to search the vehicle immediately. This works with substances which are illegal for anyone to possess, such as heroin, meth, marijuana, etc. However, you may run into a problem with PC if you train the dog to alert on substances which are legal to possess, but only for people who have a prescription. Offhand, I'm guessing that courts would say you would then be interfering with the privacy of law-abiding citizens, and medical privacy at that.

I haven't done any research on this topic in particular, but I do know that this issue is what precludes departments from training dogs to alert on both explosives and narcotics. If so trained, a dog would alert on lawful substances like black powder and nitro solvent, which are lawfully held by many hunters and shooting enthusiasts. This would negate the "probable" part of PC, namely that it's more likely than not that a vehicle contains illegal substances, because it's just as likely that there could be a lawfully-transported firearm in the vehicle.

A long post on a little idea. Hope it helps.

Thanks for the insight. All of the dogs working for the state police here are trained on controlled substances. I will have to ask them about this.

Originally posted by Darian Williams:
I will be going to get a K9 for my department next month. I have not had any training as a K9 handler. The dog I will be getting will be trained for the basic drugs (marijauna, heroin, cocaine, crack, meth)however; the biggest problem we have here is trafficking in controlled substances such as OxyContin, Xanex, Lorcet and Methadone. How hard will it be to train a dog on these odors?... Unless this dog is only going to be used in your jail, you should NOT train the dog on any legally obtained substance (i.e. script pills, etc...). If you do, then the dog will only be able to be utilized as a locating tool and not for any type of probable cause for search. This type of training is fine for private K9 detection companies or for jail use only.
John

I would have to agree with the previous posts - I had researched this area about 4 years ago and I was advised by our Attorney General's Office - don't go there. My dog and I would lose my credibilty for probable cause. Nobody would know if the dog was indicating to illegal substance or a legal substance.

Good luck in your new venture.

All of the posts on this thread are correct. I am closing the thread.