It’s common to see law enforcement officers using sniffer dogs to bust drug rackets. Now, worried parents and school heads in Missouri can also use trained canines to find out if their young children are doing drugs. A company in the state rents out sniffer dogs by the hour to families, schools, and offices at charges of $200 and up. The company takes pride in its canine employees that are trained to detect drugs like heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy and marijuana.

“I thought it’d be a good idea to have a dog that’s not law enforcement, a non-law enforcement canine that doesn’t do apprehension or anything like that where it’s safe to have them among the students, so I had started it,” said Ray McCarty, founder of Metro K-9 Services. McCarty also clarified that no matter what the dogs detect, the company never involves police in a case. McCarty said he came up with the idea of providing unique services after learning about the growing rate of drug sweeps at his child’s school and kids being taken away to juvenile detention.

Research suggests a dog’s sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 more accurate than human’s. This is the reason why law enforcement authorities and U.S. Customs Border Patrol (CBP) officers use canine sniffers for detecting drugs. McCarty’s dogs are carefully trained to sniff and detect drugs and other controlled substances in a wide range of locations, including houses, schools, universities and offices. When a sniffer dog detects any drug odor, it is trained to inform the handler with a passive signal. The detection of drugs is further managed according to the client’s discretion.

Drug addiction is a menace

Drug addiction is wreaking havoc on the country. Now, addictive substances are not just confined to poor neighborhoods. Instead, their use is widespread even in the suburbs and the affluent areas, causing a phenomenal surge in overdose-related deaths in recent years. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an estimated 28.6 million people aged 12 or older were current illicit drug users in 2016. Teenagers and young adults are more vulnerable to substance use disorders (SUDs). The NSDUH data also shows that nearly 2 million adolescents aged 12 to 17 used illicit drugs in 2016.

Drugs not only harm the physical and emotional health of users, but also damage their overall quality of life, including social standing and interpersonal relationships. However, timely drug addiction therapy can reverse most of the life-wrecking outcomes. If a person is grappling with SUDs, he/she should immediately seek professional help from a reputed drug addiction treatment provider. Remember that substance abuse can have life-threatening consequences, if left untreated.

Hooked Sober is a source of information on drugs, alcohol, eating disorders and mental disorders. Please send your questions, concerns or comments to [email protected] or speak to a representative at 866-838-4087.