What Makes a Cannabis Brand Truly Black-Owned in NY

A Black-owned cannabis brand in New York means majority Black ownership of the licensed business entity, active operational leadership by those owners, and a verifiable stake in the profits, decisions, and direction of the company — not a marketing label slapped on a product line to attract a demographic. That distinction matters more in New York cannabis than almost anywhere else in the country, because this state built its adult-use market on the promise of equity — and that promise deserves to be honored with specificity, not symbolism.

We are Silly Nice. We are Shane Breen and LeVar Thomas — co-founders, partners for over 25 years, Black men running a Black-owned, Veteran-owned, LGBTQ+-owned, family-run cannabis brand right here in Brooklyn, New York. We launched in March 2024 and we are now in 150+ licensed adult-use dispensaries across New York State. We do not say that to brag. We say it because transparency is a form of accountability, and accountability is exactly what "Black-owned" should demand from every brand claiming the label.

Ownership That Shows Up on Paper and in Person

Real Black ownership means our names are on the license. Our decisions shape every product, every partnership, every line on our lab results. When we decided our Diamond Powder would hit 86.24% THC with 98.54% total cannabinoids at $50 — that was us making that call. When we chose to source terpene-forward, small-batch materials for our Frosted Hash Ball — 67.34% THC, 5.7% terpene content — that was an aesthetic and ethical decision made by two Black men who use cannabis, love cannabis, and believe our community deserves the best version of it. Not a boardroom in another state. Not a conglomerate with a diversity initiative. Us.

New York State designed its adult-use cannabis market with Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary licenses specifically prioritizing individuals and communities harmed by cannabis prohibition — people who were arrested, prosecuted, and incarcerated for the very thing that Wall Street is now trying to profit from. That framework matters. But licensing is just the door. Walking through it, building something real, and staying standing — that is a different fight entirely.

Black communities in New York — from Bed-Stuy to the South Bronx to Jamaica, Queens — absorbed a disproportionate share of cannabis enforcement for decades. The NYPD's stop-and-frisk era, the decades of misdemeanor possession arrests, the collateral damage to families and futures — none of that happened in the abstract. It happened in our neighborhoods, to people we know. So when we say we built Silly Nice for New York, we are not reaching for a poetic hook. We are naming a moral obligation. This market should reflect the people it harmed. That starts with who owns the brands on the shelves.

Equity Is Not Just About Who Gets a License

Equity in cannabis also means access to capital, distribution, retail shelf space, and education. We have had to build every one of those relationships ourselves — without the inherited networks that larger, well-funded operators walk in with. What we have instead is 25 years of partnership, a U.S. Army Veteran's discipline, an unshakeable commitment to product quality, and a community of New Yorkers who recognize realness when they see it. That is the equity story that rarely gets written. We are writing it now.

Our products are not an accident. They are a statement. Every SKU we carry is independently lab-tested, small-batch, and built to exceed the expectations of adults 21 and older who have been smoking, dabbing, and vaping long enough to know when something is exceptional and when something is overhyped. In New York, our community has always had a refined palate — for music, for fashion, for food, for culture. Cannabis is no different. We make products worthy of that palate.

Our Bubble Hash at $44 — 53.32% THC, 62.86% total cannabinoids, 6.2% terpene content — is solventless, made using only ice water and agitation. No chemicals. No shortcuts. A 6.2% terpene profile means you are not just getting potency; you are getting a sensory experience that reflects the plant's true character. Our Infused Flower, Papaya Wine, is 3.5 grams at $60 — 51.22% THC, coated in live resin and THCa diamonds. That is the kind of product that comes from people who love what they make. You can tell the difference. Our community always can.

Lab Results Are Not Optional — They Are the Standard

Every single product we sell comes with a Certificate of Analysis — a COA — from an independent licensed lab. Our Diamond Powder's 98.54% total cannabinoid content is not a marketing claim. It is a verified number. Our Pink Stardust 510 vape at $40 — 81.96% THC, 88.36% total cannabinoids — uses 100% cannabis-derived terpenes, and that is documented. Our Alaskan Thunder Fuck 2G All-In-One at $80 hits 82.46% THC on a rechargeable USB-C device designed for real daily use. All of it is verifiable at sillynice.com/menu. Because a Black-owned brand that asks for your trust should give you something to verify.

This is the question New York cannabis consumers need to be asking loudly and consistently: Is this brand Black-owned, or is it Black-branded? Black-branded means a company deployed Black aesthetics, Black cultural references, and Black faces in their marketing to appeal to Black consumers — while the actual ownership, profits, and decision-making live somewhere else entirely. It is one of the oldest plays in American commerce and it is alive and well in cannabis.

Black-owned means the people building the brand are also the people cashing the checks, signing the contracts, and lying awake at 2am figuring out how to get product to a dispensary in the Hudson Valley by Thursday. It means the risk is theirs. The vision is theirs. The accountability is theirs. We know the difference intimately — because we live it every single day. And we believe New Yorkers are smart enough, and care enough, to demand that distinction before they spend their money.

Ask the Hard Questions Before You Buy

When you pick up a product at a licensed New York dispensary and it says "Black-owned," ask: Who owns the license? Who holds the equity? Are Black founders in active operational leadership or are they a face on a website? These are not antagonistic questions. They are responsible ones. The cannabis market in New York is still young enough that buying habits right now will shape who succeeds and who gets squeezed out. Your dollar is a vote. Make it count for something real.

We are not just one thing. Silly Nice is Black-owned and Veteran-owned — Shane's service in the U.S. Army is part of our foundation, and the discipline, integrity, and mission-focus that military experience builds is woven into how we operate. We are also LGBTQ+-owned and family-run, because we are partners in every sense of the word. Our identity is intersectional by nature, not by marketing strategy. We are a living example that these communities overlap — and that cannabis brands can reflect that overlap without making it a performance.

New York has always been a city where those intersections are visible, celebrated, and fiercely protected. From Brooklyn to the West Village to Harlem to Jackson Heights, this city holds communities that have had to fight for their right to exist openly. We carry that energy into every product we make, every dispensary conversation we have, and every relationship we build in this industry. Being Silly Nice means being unapologetically all of those things — at the same time.

The Veteran Ethos Behind Our Quality Standards

Military service teaches you that there is no shortcut worth taking when the stakes are real. That ethos drives our product quality decisions directly. We do not release a batch that does not meet our internal standards — regardless of what it might cost us in time or margin. Our sustainable packaging, our small-batch production, our insistence on independent lab testing — these are not trends we adopted. They are values we built in from day one, because we believe our community deserves a brand that holds itself to the same standard it asks of others.

When you buy Silly Nice from a licensed New York dispensary, you are doing more than purchasing a premium cannabis product — and we mean that practically, not poetically. You are directing revenue to a Black-owned, Veteran-owned business that reinvests in its own growth, its own people, and its own ability to stay on shelves and expand. In an industry where large multistate operators have enormous structural advantages, the support of individual consumers is genuinely consequential for small brands like ours.

We are in 150+ licensed adult-use dispensaries across New York State right now. That number represents real relationships, real conversations, real shelf space earned one dispensary at a time. Every purchase you make tells a budtender, a buyer, and a dispensary owner that Silly Nice belongs on that shelf. In a market that is still defining itself, that kind of community signal shapes who gets to build long-term. We want to build long-term. And we want to do it with you.

How to Verify You're Buying Genuinely Black-Owned Cannabis

Look for brands registered with the New York Cannabis Control Board, cross-reference ownership claims with publicly available licensing data when possible, and support dispensaries that actively curate their shelves with genuine equity operators. Look for COAs — because transparent brands publish them. Look for founders who are reachable, visible, and accountable — not just a logo. We are here. Our lab results are at sillynice.com/menu. Our dispensary locations are searchable. We are not hiding behind a brand identity. We are the brand.

New York's adult-use cannabis market is one of the most significant economic opportunities this city has seen in a generation — and it was legally structured to give priority to the communities that paid the highest price under prohibition. We take that seriously. Silly Nice is not a pop-up moment. We are not a limited-edition collab. We are a brand built to last, built with intention, and built by and for the kind of New Yorkers who have always had to create their own tables because nobody was pulling out chairs.

What makes a cannabis brand Black-owned in New York? It means ownership on the license, leadership in the building, accountability to the community, and products that prove the founders care about more than the bottom line. It means showing up — in 150+ dispensaries, with independently verified lab results, with sustainable packaging, with a story that is true and verifiable and still being written. That is what we are. That is Silly Nice. For adults 21 and older across New York State — we are here, we are real, and we are not going anywhere.

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