The New York State Office of Cannabis Management launched a public education campaign today, designed to protect the health and safety of New Yorkers buying marijuana products.  

The campaign ‘Why Buy Legal New York’ will introduce public service announcements to be aired in English and Spanish on TV, social media and across New York City.   

The initiative aims to encourage New Yorkers to buy safe, regulated and licensed cannabis products, and reminds New Yorkers to safely store these products away from kids and pets.  

Lyla Hunt, deputy director of Public Health and Campaigns for the OCM, says that buying or consuming from illegal sources could be harmful.  

"Pesticides, they have salmonella, they have E.coli and even some lead not only that but what you see on the label isn't what's in the product in an unregulated, illicit product,” said Hunt.  

The campaign also aims to support the state’s social justice and equity goals of legalizing cannabis – a main goal being to prioritize people previously convicted of cannabis-related convictions for dispensary licenses.