Police services in Saskatchewan say most people are behaving well since marijuana legalization and not driving high.
"Police have been reporting that they haven’t seen a dramatic spike in impaired driving when it comes to cannabis," said Tyler McMurchy with Saskatchewan Government Insurance.
Since Oct. 17, Regina police have charged about two dozen people with impaired driving. However, police weren’t able to quantify how many of those where cannabis related because police are waiting for lab results in many cases.
"The bulk majority of those charges are likely not related to cannabis but they are charges laid by police for impaired driving," said Les Parker with the Regina Police Service.
Police in Prince Albert and Saskatoon said they haven’t laid any impaired driving charges for cannabis use since legalization day. Moose Jaw police charged four people between Oct. 17 and 31 with impaired driving — but also couldn’t say if the impairment was from drugs or alcohol.
"Impaired driving is unfortunately still the number one cause of fatalities on Saskatchewan roads,” said McMurchy. “It's something that is 100 per cent preventable and it's something that we can all we can decide to do better."
Police say that no matter the reason, drivers shouldn’t be impaired before getting behind the wheel.
“Our (primary) mandate is public safety, so we need the roads to be safe,” Parker said. “We need impaired drivers off the roads.”
