“You’ve got to go meet Tom.”
That’s what Samantha Christmann told me after she visited his farm out in Appleton. No context. No follow-up. Just that. In an industry full of pitches, that kind of recommendation stands out.
I pulled up to 6730 Lake Road in Appleton sometime in 2024 and Tom Szulist walked toward me barefoot and shirtless. His team was scattered across the property, some in the garden, others framing out the dry room and processing facilities. Nobody was standing around. The place felt like a working farm because that’s exactly what it is. At the end of the rows, there was a tent. Tom slept in it every night. Not because he had to—because he wasn’t going to let anyone touch what he built.
That tells you everything.
Tom Szulist
He’s been working that same ground since 2009, when he started Singer Farm Naturals selling tart cherry juice and garlic. In 2016, he began experimenting with CBD, keeping each strain separate, learning the plant the same way he learned everything else: slowly, on his own land.
By 2019, he had a brand. By 2022, he secured one of just 52 adult-use cultivator licenses statewide. By January 2025, sixteen years after first breaking that soil—he finally received a microbusiness license, allowing him to sell directly to customers.
Niagara County’s first licensed cannabis microbusiness. When we talked about the wait, you could hear it. Not bitterness—something heavier. Like someone who had been carrying something for a long time and was finally setting it down.
The name means something.
Innocence Cannabis didn’t start as a solo project. Valentino Dixon was supposed to be part of this.
If you don’t know the name, you should. Dixon spent 27 years at Attica for a murder he didn’t commit. The actual shooter confessed on camera two days after the killing. It didn’t matter.
Dixon went to prison anyway. He came home in 2018, exonerated, 45 years old. While inside, he drew golf courses in colored pencil. That work reached the outside world. He sold pieces to Michelle Obama. Barack Obama shared his story with 34 million followers. He sat in rooms with Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. He built something from nothing while the system tried to bury him. Dixon partnered with Tom around 2021. The name came immediately.
“The whole point of the name Innocence,” he said, “is that I was innocent for 27 years—and the cannabis plant has always been innocent too.”
Then New York’s Office of Cannabis Management did what it has done to many applicants across the state: it stalled. A process designed to prioritize people most impacted by the drug war dragged on long enough that Dixon—arguably one of the most symbolically important applicants the state could have approved—walked away. “I don’t have any faith in these people,” he said. The Buffalo News editorial board covered it.
Tom kept going.
Straight From The Source
Tom doesn’t just “own a brand” – Tom is the brand. He grows it, processes it, and sells it, all on the same Lake Ontario farm. No middlemen. No mystery supply chain. When you ask about Jack Herer, Cherry Bomb, or Blue Dream, you’re talking to the guy who put hands on it from seed to mylar.
That’s rare in New York. The reviews reflect it—smooth, clean, properly grown and cured. Good enough that other licensed dispensaries carry his product. Not marketing. Distribution. If you can’t trace it back to one operator who owns the process, you’re guessing.
Seeing Is Believing
The Buffalo cannabis market has a lot of new arrivals. Tom’s been doing this for sixteen years. He didn’t come in with outside capital and a buildout crew. He came in with a farm, a philosophy, and a tent at the end of the rows. That difference shows up in the product—and in the experience.
Innocence Cannabis
6730 Lake Road, Appleton, NY
The drive is worth it.
innocence.buzz
Mon–Sat 10am–8pm | Sun 10am–6pm
