By Ben Anderson
A press release Thursday from the Alaska State Troopers revealed the results of a three-year study that determined the answer to a question bothering everyone: Is the odor of marijuana associated with the presence of the drug?
The statement from troopers, titled “Study Finds Marijuana Odors Significantly Associated With Marijuana Grows” was based on research conducted by the University of Alaska Anchorage Justice Center at the request of troopers. Troopers were quick to point out that no tax dollars were use to fund the study — it was paid for with “federally forfeited illegal drug proceeds,” according to troopers, who said the goal was to obtain:
…an empirical estimate of the extent to which AST investigators’ detection of marijuana odors served as a reliable indicator of the presence of illegal quantities of marijuana in structures.
The study examined 200 searches for marijuana conducted by troopers between 2006 and 2008. Of those 200 searches, 197 resulted in the seizure of marijuana. The three cases where no marijuana was seized were not preceded by the detection of marijuana odor.
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