LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – The Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board is launching a new campaign to urge cannabis users to support licensed businesses and only consume inspected products that are deemed safe: “only licensed, only legal.”

The “buy legal” effort to educate users on establishments with legal sales, safe consumption practices and the health dangers of illicit cannabis comes as lawmakers look to crack down on Nevada’s $242 million illegal cannabis market.

“Our licensees do such an excellent job on the ‘seed to sale’ system. From the minute it’s grown until the minute it hits one of these dispensaries, it’s tested, vetted, and gone through the entire process. A big portion of what we do at the Cannabis Compliance Board is public health and safety,” said James Humm, the executive director of the CCB.

“In some cases, the illicit market is able to undercut the legal market, but unfortunately for us, we don’t know what’s in that product,” Humm said.

At numerous stages of growth, harvest and production, the CCB tests and inspects products for harmful contaminants such as yeast, mold, bacteria, and heavy metals such as arsenic. Consumption or inhalation of such contaminants can put your health at risk.

Many tourists and locals are misled to purchase illegal cannabis through illegal actors on social media, Humm said, promising delivery to the Strip (which is banned by state law) or to your doorstep.

The CCB website has a list of licensed dispensaries and states which businesses offer legal delivery.

“Go to one of our licensees, it’s safer. It helps support small businesses and it certainly helps support our state education,” Humm said.

Humm tells FOX5, efforts will be made to educate tourists that only licensed sales are allowed 1,500 feet from gaming properties.

FOX5 recently spoke to LVMPD’s narcotics section as it looks to cracks down on illegal marijuana across the Las Vegas Valley. Police urge parents to speak to teenagers about the dangers of buying illegal cannabis from criminals, through social media.

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