Nevada legal pot launch not expected to hurt state budget

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada officials think they have enough money on hand to get a legal recreational marijuana market up and running without straining the state budget.

The state could use money from its existing medical marijuana program to pay upfront costs of regulating the new recreational market, Democratic state Sen. Tick Segerblom told the Las Vegas Review-Journal (http://bit.ly/2hpqlG7 ) in a story published Sunday.

The measure calls for retail shops to sell the substance by 2018, and state officials are already hashing out details including procedures for determining who gets a license.