Starting today, cannabis is legal and RCMP are prepared to adjust to this new reality. Sergeant Kyle McFadyen is the Unit Commander for Eastman Traffic Services. He says driving under the influence of cannabis has always been illegal but they now have some extra tools to test for sobriety.

"We have a number of tools available to us including the standardized field sobriety testing as well as the drug recognition expert programming as well as there is new legislation that permits us to do blood demands for drivers we have reasonable and probable grounds to believe are impaired. So what the means for us is that through an investigational process, if we believe that a driver is impaired by a drug, it gives us the ability to read them a blood demand where we can transport the driver to a medical facility and have blood drawn from them for the purpose of analysis."

McFadyen says adults aged 19 or older will be able to have up to 30 grams of legally-purchased cannabis in their possession at one time.

"What is not permitted is illicit (cannabis), so cannabis not purchased through a licenced facility."

Furthermore, he says residential growing of cannabis is prohibited in Manitoba. However, McFadyen says from a medical perspective, whatever licences have been issued for growing at home will remain in effect until their expiration. He notes it is illegal to consume cannabis in a public place or in a vehicle, whether the vehicle is moving or not.

McFadyen says they are not expecting any increase in cannabis-related issues today.

"It's hard to say what's going to happen, but we're not expecting a dramatic increase at this point."