In March 2015, Ben & Jerry’s co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield told HuffPost Live they liked the idea of a cannabis-infused ice cream, with Cohen saying, “Makes sense to me. You know, combine your pleasures.” The company, owned by Unilever since 2000, said it had no plans for one. A weed-infused Ben & Jerry’s pint never arrived, but Cohen later started a cannabis brand of his own.
The Weed Street Journal first posted the founders’ interview as a video item. The video embed no longer works, so this page tells the story from contemporary reporting.
What Happened
Cohen and Greenfield, who founded Ben & Jerry’s in Vermont in 1978, were asked on HuffPost Live whether they would make a marijuana flavor. Cohen was in favor. Greenfield said, “If it were my decision, I’d be doing it,” but added that “we have wiser heads at the company that figure those things out,” CNN reported on March 5, 2015.
The founders no longer controlled the brand. They had sold Ben & Jerry’s to Unilever for $326 million in 2000. A company spokeswoman, Kelly Mohr, told AdWeek that Ben & Jerry’s “hasn’t given serious consideration to the possibility of cannabis-infused ice cream,” then added, “Perhaps it’s high time.”
Why It Mattered
The interview landed just after the first legal recreational markets opened. Colorado’s adult-use stores had been selling since January 2014, and CNN, citing the Denver Post, noted that edibles made up nearly half of Colorado’s cannabis product market. Four states had legalized recreational use by early 2015. A famous food brand even joking about cannabis showed how fast the subject was moving into the mainstream, and the story was picked up widely.
It also fit the founders’ history. Cohen and Greenfield had long tied the company to political causes.
What Happened Next
Ben & Jerry’s did not launch a THC ice cream. Federal law makes that impossible for a national food brand: adult-use marijuana is still illegal under federal law, and state cannabis edibles must be made and sold inside each state’s licensed system.
Cohen took the idea in another direction. In April 2023 he announced Ben’s Best Blnz, or B3, a nonprofit cannabis brand launching in Vermont shops with lower-THC pre-rolled joints, the Associated Press reported. The brand licenses its formulas and trademarks to for-profit businesses for royalties and directs 80% of profits to grants for Black cannabis entrepreneurs, with the rest split between the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance and the Last Prisoner Project.
Legacy
The 2015 interview is still the origin of most “Ben & Jerry’s weed ice cream” searches. The honest answer is that the company never made one, though one of its founders now sells cannabis in his home state. Vermont’s adult-use rules are in our Vermont marijuana laws guide, Colorado’s in our Colorado guide, and the federal picture in our federal marijuana laws guide. More stories like this are in our cannabis news archive.
Ben & Jerry’s Weed Ice Cream FAQ
Did Ben & Jerry’s make a weed ice cream?
No. The founders said in 2015 they liked the idea, but the company said it had no plans, and no THC-infused Ben & Jerry’s product has been sold.
What did Ben and Jerry say about cannabis ice cream?
Ben Cohen said, “Makes sense to me. You know, combine your pleasures.” Jerry Greenfield said he would do it if it were his decision.
Does Ben Cohen sell cannabis?
Yes. In 2023 he launched Ben’s Best Blnz (B3), a nonprofit cannabis brand in Vermont that gives its profits to Black cannabis entrepreneurs and criminal justice groups.
Originally reported by The Weed Street Journal; rewritten and updated in October 2026 with what happened next.