Who Makes Your Weed? Silly Nice Brings a More Personal Approach to New York Cannabis

The independent New York brand is betting that transparency, founder visibility, lab testing and small-batch products matter more as the legal market gets crowded.

New York, NY, Sept. 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Walk into a licensed New York cannabis dispensary today and the amount of choice can be overwhelming.

Flower. Hash. Vapes. Concentrates. Infused products. Hundreds of brands. Thousands of individual products competing for attention through colorful packaging, potency numbers, strain names and increasingly sophisticated marketing.

For Silly Nice, the growing complexity of New York’s legal cannabis market raises a simpler question:

Do consumers know who is actually behind the cannabis they are buying?

The independent New York cannabis company believes that answer increasingly matters.

Founded by Shane Breen and LeVar Thomas, Silly Nice is a family-run, Black-owned and Veteran-owned cannabis brand built in New York for New York’s regulated adult-use market.

Instead of attempting to look like a giant national cannabis corporation, the founders have deliberately kept the people behind Silly Nice visible.

Consumers can see who built the company. Dispensary owners and budtenders can speak directly with the founders. Product information and laboratory results are publicly available. The company’s current portfolio remains intentionally focused rather than sprawling across dozens of interchangeable products.

It is a business strategy built around accountability at a time when New York cannabis is becoming significantly more competitive.

Hundreds of Cannabis Brands Are Competing for New Yorkers' Attention

New York’s regulated cannabis industry has expanded rapidly.

The New York State Office of Cannabis Management reported more than 750 cannabis brands operating in the market as the adult-use program matured. State market data has also shown an expanding assortment of products, strains and retail locations, creating considerably more choice for adult consumers than existed during the market’s earliest days.

That growth is healthy for competition, but it also creates a new challenge.

A dispensary shelf can tell consumers what a product is called, how much THC it contains and what it costs.

It does not always tell them much about who built the company behind it, how the product fits into that company’s philosophy or whether anyone behind the label is accessible when questions arise.

Silly Nice is betting that those details will become more important as consumers become more experienced.

“New Yorkers have more choices than ever, and that means brands have to give people a reason to care beyond a logo or a THC number,” said Shane Breen, co-founder of Silly Nice. “We want people to know who we are, what we make, why we make it and how to reach us. There are real people standing behind every Silly Nice product.”

That visibility extends to retailers as well.

Silly Nice encourages dispensary owners, buyers and budtenders to communicate directly with its founders and has increasingly focused on in-person education, store visits and consumer engagement rather than relying exclusively on conventional brand marketing.

A Cannabis Brand Built by People Consumers Can Actually Find

Silly Nice launched in New York in March 2024.

Breen, a U.S. Army veteran and longtime media entrepreneur, and Thomas built the company around a shared interest in cannabis, independent business, New York culture and products designed for experienced adult consumers.

Their relationship predates the cannabis company by decades.

That history gives Silly Nice an unusually personal foundation for a consumer packaged goods brand.

The company does not hide its founders several layers behind corporate communications departments. Their names and stories are part of the business, and Silly Nice openly invites retailers to contact the founders directly.

That approach becomes more distinctive as New York’s market grows.

Independent cannabis companies are competing not only against one another but also against larger operators with deeper capitalization, broader distribution networks and considerably larger marketing budgets.

Silly Nice’s answer has been to compete differently.

Rather than trying to appear bigger, it has made being small, recognizable and accountable part of the proposition.

Small-Batch Cannabis Instead of an Endless Product Catalog

Silly Nice currently concentrates on a tightly edited portfolio rather than attempting to occupy every category on a dispensary menu.

Its lineup includes products such as Bubble Hash, Frosted Hash Ball, THCa Diamond Powder, infused flower, 510 vape cartridges and 2-gram all-in-one vapes.

The formats range from old-school cannabis traditions to newer concentrate technology.

Bubble Hash connects directly to one of cannabis culture’s oldest concentrate-making traditions, using ice water rather than chemical solvents to separate trichomes from plant material.

The Frosted Hash Ball builds on hash culture in a more contemporary format.

Diamond Powder represents the opposite end of the technological spectrum: highly concentrated THCa crystalline material intended for experienced adult consumers.

Infused flower combines familiar flower consumption with concentrates, while vape products offer a more portable format.

The portfolio is diverse without becoming enormous.

For Silly Nice, that is intentional.

A smaller catalog allows individual products to maintain clearer identities while giving the company more control over how each one is presented, explained and supported.

Transparency Is Becoming Part of the Product

Knowing who owns a cannabis company is only one part of transparency.

Knowing what is inside the package matters more.

Silly Nice publishes detailed product information and Certificates of Analysis, commonly known as COAs, allowing consumers to examine testing information associated with its products.

Cannabis testing can provide information about cannabinoid concentrations and other characteristics depending on the laboratory analysis performed.

For consumers, that information provides another layer of context beyond the large THC percentage typically displayed on a dispensary menu.

Silly Nice believes that access to this information should become normal.

The company publishes cannabinoid data and product details online so adult consumers can investigate products before or after walking into a dispensary.

That philosophy reflects a larger maturation taking place in legal cannabis.

As consumers become more knowledgeable, questions are evolving from simply “How strong is it?” toward questions such as:

How was it made?

What cannabinoids are present?

What does the terpene profile look like?

Has it been independently tested?

Who is behind the brand?

Where was it produced?

What kind of company am I supporting?

Those questions create an opportunity for smaller brands capable of answering them clearly.

Made in New York, for New York

Silly Nice has also resisted the temptation to present itself as a generic national cannabis label.

Its identity is explicitly tied to New York.

The company was born in Harlem, operates from New York City, and participates exclusively in New York’s regulated cannabis market.

Its products are made within New York’s licensed supply chain and sold through licensed adult-use dispensaries around the state.

Silly Nice is now represented in 165 licensed New York dispensaries, according to the company, including locations throughout New York City and communities across the state.

But the retail footprint is only part of the story.

For Breen and Thomas, being a New York brand means maintaining an identifiable relationship with the market that created it.

New York consumers are famously skeptical of branding that feels manufactured somewhere else and pasted onto the city afterward.

Silly Nice has taken the opposite route.

Its founders, business relationships, product development, retail presence and cultural identity all grew inside New York’s developing legal market.

Packaging Is Another Place the Company Shows Its Priorities

The philosophy extends beyond the cannabis itself.

Silly Nice uses recycled glass jars, ocean-bound plastic lids and hemp-based boxes and labels, with packaging manufactured in the United States.

Through its relationship with sustainable packaging company Sana Packaging, Silly Nice reports that it has helped divert more than 1,500 pounds of ocean-bound plastic since launching.

The packaging strategy reflects the same broader idea behind the company:

The details surrounding a cannabis product communicate something about the people responsible for putting it into the world.

For an independent company, those choices are part of the brand rather than separate from it.

The People Behind a Cannabis Brand May Become Its Biggest Differentiator

Legal cannabis is moving toward the same stage experienced by many mature consumer industries.

Early on, simply being available can be a competitive advantage.

Eventually, availability becomes expected.

Then differentiation matters.

New York consumers can increasingly choose among competing flower brands, vape manufacturers, concentrate makers and product formats at the same licensed dispensary.

When products begin competing within similar categories and price ranges, the company behind the product becomes part of the purchasing decision.

That does not mean ownership alone determines quality.

A compelling founder story cannot substitute for a product people enjoy.

Silly Nice understands that distinction.

Its ownership story may introduce consumers to the company, but repeat purchases ultimately depend on product experience, consistency, trust and whether customers believe they received value for their money.

That is why the company’s identity and its products have been developed together rather than treated as separate marketing exercises.

“We’re proud of who we are, but we also know nobody is obligated to buy our cannabis because of our story,” said LeVar Thomas, co-founder of Silly Nice. “The products have to earn that support. Our job is to make something we’re proud to put our names behind every single time.”

A Different Kind of Cannabis Company for New York

Silly Nice’s approach is ultimately straightforward.

Make a limited number of distinctive cannabis products.

Publish useful information about them.

Stay accessible.

Support the dispensaries carrying the brand.

Let consumers know who is behind the company.

And remain visibly connected to New York rather than attempting to manufacture authenticity through advertising.

As the state’s legal cannabis industry becomes larger, more sophisticated and more competitive, that human scale may become increasingly valuable.

Consumers have hundreds of brands to choose from.

Silly Nice wants them to know exactly which people are standing behind this one.

Find Silly Nice in New York

Adults 21 and older can explore Silly Nice products, view laboratory information and locate licensed New York dispensaries carrying the brand at sillynice.com.

Product availability varies by dispensary, so consumers should check individual store menus or contact retailers before visiting.

About Silly Nice

Silly Nice is an independent, family-run New York cannabis brand founded by Shane Breen and LeVar Thomas. The Black-owned, Veteran-owned and LGBTQ-owned company launched in March 2024 and produces a focused portfolio of small-batch cannabis products including Bubble Hash, Frosted Hash Ball, THCa Diamond Powder, infused flower and vapes. Silly Nice products are produced within New York’s regulated cannabis market and distributed through licensed adult-use dispensaries across the state. The company emphasizes product transparency, direct founder accessibility, sustainable American-made packaging and a distinctly New York approach to cannabis culture.

Learn more, explore products and find a licensed retailer at sillynice.com.

For adults 21 and older. Please consume responsibly.

Attachments

• Looking Toward the Future of New York Cannabis
• Silly Nice Co-Founder LeVar Thomas Meets New Yorkers at Licensed NYC Dispensary

Shane Breen
Silly Nice
929-375-6940
info@sillynice.com