Regina police have made 0 arrests for marijuana-impaired driving since legalization

There have been no arrests made by the Regina Police Service for drug impaired driving a year into marijuana-legalization but that could retroactively change.

Police chief Evan Bray said police will demand blood samples when an officer suspects a driver may be impaired but analyzing those samples takes months.

"I think generally [legalization has]had a minimal impact on operations," Bray said on Thursday, the day edibles were legalized in Canada.

"Certainly, in day-to-day operations, we haven't seen a huge increase. We haven't seen a lot of impaired driving incidents with regard to it."

Bray said impaired driving numbers have been trending downward since legalization province-wide, not just in Regina.

Prior to legalization, the Regina Police Service had anticipated spending upward of $1 million per year to enforce, educate, get equipment and train officers.

Saskatoon police chief Troy Cooper said the Saskatoon Police Service didn't see a "huge impact" on impaired driving in the city from legalization as well.

Cooper attributed that to a controlled roll out by the province, which controlled who could obtain a licence and how many would be allotted.

"The law changed but the access to cannabis hasn't really changed to the full extent that it will," Cooper said.