Going to Pot

A black lab named Maggie scurries through a Hoboken townhouse, climbing over couches and crawling under beds, circling in and out of closets, and sticking her nose into shoes and scattered clothes. Suddenly, Maggie stops her search and sits—a sign that confirms what many parents fear most.

Posted November 10, 2008 by Emily Faherty

Sniff Dogs is a confidential drug-detection service that uses highly-trained canines to determine whether or not there are drugs in your child's room.

Photo by Guy Crittenden/Veer.

The drug-sniffing dog Maggie does her thing on an unsuspecting couch.

Photo courtesy of Sniff Dogs.

Maggie is part of Sniff Dogs (www.sniffdogs.com), a confidential drug-detection service started by Debra Stone, 46, of Summit, and Debbie Kemp, 49, of Hoboken, after Stone’s 19-year-old son was arrested for possession of marijuana last December. “I thought, not me, not my son,” says Stone. While researching a way for parents to keep tabs on their children’s drug use, Stone says, “I kept coming across these canine drug dogs, and thought, ‘I want one of these! I want one in my home!’”

With five canines in New Jersey and one in an Ohio branch, Sniff Dogs, which launched in September, is intended as a solution for concerned parents, like Amy (not her real name), owner of the home Maggie was sniffing.

Until recently, Amy, a single mother, and her 15-year-old son frequently had open conversations about the family’s antidrug policy. “My son started acting a little weird,” she says, “so I asked him, ‘Have you been smoking pot?’ He told me he tried it a few times and immediately made a pact with me not to do it again.”

Despite his promise, the fear that her son, a star athlete, was still using drugs was enough for Amy to contact Sniff Dogs, which also checks educational and commercial facilities to determine if they are drug-free.

The specially trained dogs are known for their keen sense of smell, which can be up to 100 times stronger than that of humans. Along with marijuana, the dogs can identify cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, Xanax, and Ecstasy. They can detect telltale odors from up to fifteen feet away and drug residue on clothing as much as 48 hours old.

“If they come within 6 inches of the residual odor of a drug, they sit and the handlers mark the spot,” says Stone. “We don’t search for the drug, that is up to the parents to do.”

While no drugs were found in Amy’s home, Kemp did mark residual odors. In the event of a positive finding, Sniff Dogs provides clients with a resource kit, including drug facts, local intervention contacts, and ideas about what to do next. The cost is $200 a visit.

“This is meant to be an intervention,” says Kemp. “The drugs today are more addictive and more accessible than they were years ago. From a parent’s perspective, you want to heed that.”

The Office of National Drug Control Policy’s 2005 report found that about half of New Jersey high school seniors have tried marijuana. “Every family should have a conversation about drugs, and we have to be aware of what our children are doing in this day and age,” says Amy. Sniff Dogs is for anyone who “just wants to know if the conversation stuck,” Stone says.

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