NY Cannabis vs. California and Colorado: Our Honest Take

When we launched Silly Nice in March 2024, we did it with intention. As a Black-owned, Veteran-owned, family-operated brand rooted in Harlem, we didn't have the luxury of building in a market that had already figured things out. New York's adult-use cannabis program was still finding its footing. Dispensaries were opening slowly. Regulations were shifting. And yet — here we are, in over 150 licensed adult-use dispensaries across New York State. We say that not to boast, but because it matters. It means this community showed up for us, and we're not taking that lightly.

One of the questions we hear all the time from our people is: how does New York's cannabis market actually stack up against California or Colorado? Both of those states have been legal for years. They've got deep brand ecosystems, massive retail infrastructure, and household-name companies with national followings. So what's New York's story? And where do we fit in? We've got some real thoughts on this — not as outsiders analyzing the industry, but as founders who live it every single day.

Colorado and California Grew Up in Cannabis

Colorado legalized adult-use cannabis in 2012. California followed in 2016. By the time New York passed the Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act in 2021, those two states had nearly a decade of operational experience, brand building, and regulatory trial-and-error already behind them. That head start is real. California alone has thousands of licensed dispensaries and a cannabis culture that runs so deep it's embedded in music, film, fashion, and food. Colorado built its legal infrastructure methodically and became a blueprint that other states — including New York — looked to when designing their own programs.

We're not here to pretend that New York started with the same advantages. We didn't. But here's what we've always believed: starting later doesn't mean arriving smaller. It means we get to learn from everything that came before us and do it better where it counts. New York's program was designed with equity at its center — prioritizing licenses for communities most impacted by the war on drugs. That's not just policy language to us. That's our actual story. That's Harlem. That's us.

California Is Massive — and Still Struggling

California's cannabis market is the largest in the world. Billions of dollars in annual legal sales. Hundreds of brands. A licensing framework that spans the entire state. Sounds like paradise, right? The reality is more complicated. California's legal market has been consistently undercut by an enormous illicit market. Taxes are steep, compliance costs are brutal, and many operators — especially small, independent ones — have struggled to survive. Plenty of beloved California brands have shuttered not because the product wasn't good, but because the economic weight of operating legally became too heavy to carry.

Colorado Is Mature, Efficient, and a Little Crowded

Colorado's market is more refined. The state has had years to work out the kinks in its regulatory system, and it shows. Dispensary operations are smooth. Product quality is generally high. But the market is also saturated. Prices have dropped significantly over the years as supply outpaced demand. For consumers, that's not always a bad thing — but for small-batch producers who care deeply about quality, a race to the bottom on price isn't a game we'd want to play. We've built Silly Nice on the idea that quality justifies value, and that philosophy fits New York's culture better than any other market we know.

New York Has Always Had Taste

New York City didn't get to be the cultural capital of the world by accepting mediocrity. Our food scene demands the best. Our fashion is global. Our music sets trends that the rest of the country follows. So when adult-use cannabis arrived here, consumers weren't going to settle for average. New Yorkers already knew what good cannabis looked, smelled, and felt like — decades of underground market experience made sure of that. What the legal market had to do was meet that expectation. At Silly Nice, that challenge fueled everything we built.

Our Diamond-Frosted and Live Resin Infused Flower hits at 51.22% THC in a 3.5g pack at $60. Our Diamond Powder comes in at 86.24% THC per gram at $50. Our Frosted Hash Ball sits at 67.34% THC for $50, and our Bubble Hash comes in at 53.32% THC for $44. Our 510 Vape Cartridge — Pink Stardust — clocks in at 81.96% THC for $40, and our 2G All-In-One Vape in Alaskan Thunder Fuck runs 82.46% THC for $80. Every single one of those numbers is verified through independent lab testing. We publish those results because we believe adults 21 and up deserve to know exactly what they're getting. That transparency isn't common everywhere — but it should be.

Other Markets Left Communities Behind

One of the most honest criticisms of California and Colorado's cannabis programs is that legalization didn't automatically create equity. In California especially, the licensing process was so expensive and complex that it largely favored well-capitalized operators. Communities of color — which bore the brunt of cannabis criminalization for generations — were often left out of the legal market they helped create through decades of underground commerce and cultural contribution. Colorado faced similar critiques. The legal industry was built, in many places, on top of communities that weren't invited to participate in it.

New York Made Equity Part of the Foundation

New York's approach was different by design. The MRTA specifically created Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary licenses for justice-involved individuals and prioritized equity applicants throughout the licensing process. Is the system perfect? No — and the rollout has had genuine challenges that frustrated operators and consumers alike. But the intention matters. And for us, as a Black-owned, Veteran-owned brand that built our roots in Harlem before opening to the rest of New York, that framework gave us a real shot. We're not just selling cannabis in New York. We're part of building what this market is supposed to be.

The Tax Reality in Every State

All three states — California, Colorado, and New York — tax cannabis, and consumers feel it at the register. California's combined state and local taxes can push effective rates above 35% in some markets. Colorado has matured to a more stable taxation structure, but prices have also compressed significantly due to market saturation. New York's tax structure is relatively newer and still evolving, but it layers state excise taxes on top of local levies. For consumers in all three markets, understanding the full cost of legal compliance is part of navigating adult-use cannabis. We believe transparent, fair pricing — combined with verifiable quality — is how we earn loyalty over time.

Why We Price the Way We Do

Our products are small-batch, sustainably packaged, and independently lab-tested. We're not a conglomerate pushing volume for margin. When we price a gram of Diamond Powder at $50 for 86.24% THC, or a 2G All-In-One vape at $80 for 82.46% THC, we're reflecting what it actually costs to make something worth consuming. New York consumers understand value. They're not just paying for a number — they're paying for consistency, transparency, and the knowledge that a real family in Harlem stood behind this product before it ever hit a shelf.

We're Still in the Early Chapters

California's cannabis industry is worth billions, but it's also aging, consolidating, and watching smaller brands disappear under the weight of operating costs. Colorado's market is efficient but mature — the explosive growth days are behind it. New York, by contrast, is still in its opening chapters. New dispensaries are opening. New consumers are entering the legal market for the first time. New brands are finding their footing. We're one of those brands — and we launched in March 2024, found our way into 150-plus licensed adult-use dispensaries, and haven't slowed down since. The energy here is unlike anything we've seen described in any other state's market.

This City Runs on Culture, and Cannabis Is Part of It

Cannabis in New York isn't going to look like anywhere else — and it shouldn't. California gave the world cannabis culture rooted in the West Coast lifestyle. Colorado gave the industry a regulatory playbook. But New York is going to add something those markets never had: the full weight of the most culturally influential city on the planet. Hip-hop, art, fashion, nightlife, community organizing — New York's cannabis market will be shaped by all of it. We plan to be part of that shaping. As founders from Harlem, as Veterans who served this country, as a family that believed in this city before it was easy to, we're committed to that future for the long run.

We're not trying to knock California or Colorado. Both markets taught the rest of the country what legal cannabis could look like — the good and the hard parts. But when we look at New York, we see something rare: a massive, culturally rich market that is still being written. An equity-forward framework that, however imperfect, made space for brands like ours to exist. A consumer base that expects quality and gives credit where it's earned. And a city that has always taken pride in doing things its own way.

We are Silly Nice. We are Black-owned, Veteran-owned, and Harlem-built. Every product we make — from our Bubble Hash to our Frosted Hash Ball to our Pink Stardust vape cartridge — is made for adults 21 and up who deserve to know exactly what they're consuming and exactly who made it. Our lab results live at sillynice.com/menu. Our dispensary locations are at sillynice.com/dispensaries. We're here, we're growing, and we're proud to be building this thing with New York.