Brooklyn & Black Cannabis Entrepreneurship: Our Story

Brooklyn has become one of the most significant hubs for Black cannabis entrepreneurship in the United States — and if you've been watching New York's adult-use cannabis market take shape since legalization, that fact isn't surprising. It's inevitable. The borough has always been a crucible for Black creative and economic power: from the Fulton Mall in the '80s to the independent music studios of Bed-Stuy, from the barbershops of Crown Heights to the restaurants of Flatbush. When New York finally opened the doors to legal cannabis, Brooklyn entrepreneurs were already positioned to move — and move they did.

We are Silly Nice — a Black-owned, Veteran-owned, LGBTQ+-owned, family-run cannabis brand based in Brooklyn, New York. We launched in March 2024, and today our products are available in 150+ licensed NY adult-use dispensaries statewide. We didn't build this brand to observe the movement from a distance. We built it to be part of it — to be proof of what's possible when community, craft, and capital finally align for people who were locked out for far too long. This article is our honest account of how Brooklyn became the heartbeat of Black cannabis entrepreneurship in New York, and what that means for our community right now.

To understand why Brooklyn is at the center of this story, you have to understand what came before. For decades, cannabis prohibition hit Black New Yorkers hardest. NYPD's stop-and-frisk era — most aggressive between 2003 and 2013 — resulted in tens of thousands of low-level marijuana arrests annually, with Black and Latino New Yorkers making up over 80% of those arrested, even though usage rates were statistically similar across racial groups. Brooklyn's neighborhoods — Brownsville, East New York, Bedford-Stuyvesant — bore a disproportionate share of that enforcement. The people who were arrested, convicted, and incarcerated were the same people who, years later, would be told they could now legally participate in the industry that criminalized them.

When New York passed the Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) in 2021, it included one of the most explicit social equity provisions in any state cannabis law: a mandate to prioritize licensing for individuals with prior cannabis convictions and their families. That wasn't a talking point — it was an attempt to write repair into law. It was imperfect, contested, and slow. But it created the legal and cultural permission structure that opened the door for a wave of Black entrepreneurs in Brooklyn and across the five boroughs to enter a market that had never welcomed them before. That history is not background noise for us. It is the soil we're growing in.

A Borough Built on Hustle and Craft

Brooklyn has always produced entrepreneurs who operate at the intersection of culture and commerce. The borough's density — over 2.5 million people packed into neighborhoods with distinct identities — means that products and ideas get tested fast and feedback is immediate. If something is real in Crown Heights, it gets known in Park Slope. If a brand earns loyalty in Canarsie, that word travels to Bushwick by the weekend. This is why Brooklyn has historically been a launching pad for Black-owned food brands, fashion labels, music imprints, and barbershop chains that later went national. Cannabis is the newest chapter in that same tradition.

Community Networks That Predate the Market

What makes Brooklyn's Black cannabis ecosystem distinctive isn't just the number of brands — it's the depth of the networks underneath them. Churches, block associations, cultural organizations, barbershops, beauty salons, and local advocacy groups have functioned as informal business incubators for decades. Many of the Black cannabis entrepreneurs now operating in New York's licensed market built their first customer relationships, their first trust, and their first community knowledge inside those spaces. When we talk about Brooklyn being a hub, we're talking about a borough that already had the social infrastructure to support new enterprise — and cannabis entrepreneurs were smart enough to plug into it.

It's Not a Logo. It's a Daily Commitment.

There's a version of the 'Black-owned business' conversation that treats it like a marketing category. We reject that. For us — for Shane Breen, U.S. Army Veteran, and LeVar Thomas, partners for over 25 years — being a Black-owned cannabis brand in Brooklyn is a daily operational reality. It means navigating a licensing environment that was designed without us in mind. It means building distribution relationships with 150+ licensed dispensaries across New York without the institutional backing that larger, well-capitalized operators enjoy. It means making product decisions based on what our community actually deserves — premium, lab-tested, small-batch cannabis — not on what's cheapest to produce.

Every product we put into the market is independently lab-tested, with Certificates of Analysis published at sillynice.com/menu. That's not a flex — it's a baseline standard we hold ourselves to because our customers deserve to know exactly what they're consuming. Our Diamond Powder comes in at 86.24% THC and 98.54% total cannabinoids — one gram at $50, designed for adults 21+ who want the most refined, potent concentrate on the New York market. Our Bubble Hash clocks in at 53.32% THC with 6.2% terpene content — that terpene number matters because it's what gives the experience depth, not just intensity. These aren't numbers we print to impress. They're the result of craft, testing, and relentless quality control.

Small-Batch, Lab-Tested, Made for Adults Who Know the Difference

We built our product line for New Yorkers who are done settling. Adults 21 and over who have been consuming cannabis their whole lives — sometimes illegally, always knowledgeably — and who now finally have legal access to products that meet their standards. Our Frosted Hash Ball (1g, 67.34% THC, 78.34% total cannabinoids, 5.7% terpenes, $50) is handmade and artisanal — there is no machine that replicates what goes into it. Our Infused Flower — Papaya Wine — brings 51.22% THC and 58.63% total cannabinoids to 3.5 grams at $60, infused with live resin and THCa diamonds for a smoking experience that flower-first consumers will not find anywhere else at that price.

For the vape consumer — whether you're on the L train heading home after a long day or winding down on your rooftop — our 510 Vape in Pink Stardust delivers 81.96% THC and 88.36% total cannabinoids at $40, with 100% cannabis-derived terpenes. No artificial additives. No shortcuts. And our 2G All-In-One in Alaskan Thunder Fuck brings 82.46% THC across a full two grams at $80, rechargeable via USB-C, because we know you're not trying to throw away a half-used vape. Every single one of these products is sustainably packaged and small-batch produced — because we believe that how we make things reflects who we are.

Representation in the Market Is Not the Same as Equity

We want to be honest with our community about something: Brooklyn being a hub for Black cannabis entrepreneurship is real and significant — and it is also incomplete. The social equity framework in New York's cannabis law has faced implementation delays, legal challenges, and funding gaps that have put real Black entrepreneurs at a disadvantage relative to larger, better-capitalized operators. Having a license doesn't automatically mean having access to capital, shelf space, or marketing infrastructure. We know this because we live it. We have built Silly Nice brick by brick, relationship by relationship, dispensary by dispensary across 150+ locations — and we have done it without the venture capital cushion that a different kind of company would have.

That's not a complaint — it's context. Because the community that supports Black-owned cannabis brands in New York is the actual equity mechanism that policy sometimes fails to be. When you walk into a licensed dispensary and ask for Silly Nice by name, you are doing something that no grant program or regulatory carve-out can replicate. You are choosing, with your dollars, to put resources into a brand built by people who look like you, who served like Shane served, who have been in this together — Shane and LeVar — for 25 years. Community support is not a charity. It is a market force, and in New York's cannabis market, it is the most powerful one available.

The Movement Is Just Getting Started

Brooklyn's emergence as a hub for Black cannabis entrepreneurship is not a trend — it is the beginning of a structural shift in who owns and benefits from one of the most rapidly growing legal industries in the United States. The brands being built right now in this borough, by people who understand its streets, its culture, its community, and its history, are going to matter in five years in ways that are difficult to fully anticipate. We are proud to be one of those brands. We launched in March 2024 with a clear commitment: no shortcuts, no compromises on quality, no abandoning the community that makes everything possible.

We are Silly Nice. We are Black-owned, Veteran-owned, LGBTQ+-owned, and family-run. We are based in Brooklyn, New York, and we are in 150+ licensed dispensaries across this state — from the South Bronx to Southampton, from Harlem to Hempstead. Shane's military discipline and LeVar's vision have shaped every decision we've made since day one, and those decisions have always pointed in the same direction: toward the community that deserves the best. If you're 21 or older and you're ready to experience cannabis the way it should be made — with craft, transparency, and pride — we are ready for you.

Find Us, Try Us, Tell a Friend

Every product we make is small-batch, independently lab-tested, and built for adults who know the difference between something made for a bottom line and something made for a community. You can see every COA, every THC percentage, every terpene count at sillynice.com/menu. You can find us at a licensed dispensary near you right now. Brooklyn didn't become a hub for Black cannabis entrepreneurship by accident. It became one because people kept showing up — for each other, for the craft, for the future. That is exactly what we intend to keep doing.

Explore more Silly Nice cannabis guides, product deep-dives, and New York dispensary insights below.

How is Brooklyn influencing the cannabis industry?

Brooklyn is serving as an incubator for Black cannabis entrepreneurship, focusing on equity and community impact. Silly Nice plays a vital role in this narrative by bringing local, high-quality products to the forefront.

Why is Black entrepreneurship important in NY cannabis?

Prioritizing Black-owned businesses is crucial for restorative justice and ensuring that the legal cannabis market is inclusive. Brands like Silly Nice are leading the charge for equity in New York.

Can I buy Silly Nice products in Brooklyn?

Yes, Silly Nice is a Brooklyn-based brand and can be found at various licensed dispensaries across the borough. We are proud to share our premium products with our home community.

How does equity affect the NY cannabis market?

Equity initiatives help diversify the industry by supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs and ensuring that the economic benefits of legalization are shared within the community.