COLUMBUS — In a new antitrust lawsuit, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost accuses nine multistate cannabis operators — including several operating in the Mahoning Valley — of engaging in anticompetitive conduct to reduce product choice and keep prices artificially high, harming both consumers and smaller, Ohio-based cannabis businesses.

The lawsuit, filed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, stems from an October 2024 tip submitted to Yost’s office by an Ohio cannabis industry employee that alleged widespread “shelf-space allotments” among large cannabis companies operating in Ohio and nationwide.

According to the tip and later corroborated in the investigation, multistate cannabis operators entered into reciprocal purchasing agreements — negotiated at a national level — to prioritize one another’s products in Ohio dispensaries while reducing or eliminating purchases from independent Ohio cultivators and processors, such as Youngstown-based Riviera Creek Holdings LLC.

“Our investigation uncovered allegations of an industrywide scheme designed to push small Ohio businesses out of the market,” Yost said. “Ohio’s antitrust laws protect competition and consumers, not backroom deals that rig the system for a select few.”

According to the tip, senior representatives from major multistate operators met in late 2022 and agreed to reduce purchases from independent businesses in order to preserve shelf space for one another during a period of increased supply and declining prices. The tip further alleged that some companies established explicit internal quotas, reserving a substantial percentage of dispensary shelf space for products sourced through reciprocal agreements with other multistate operators.

The defendants named in the lawsuit are:

• Ascend Wellness.

• AYR Wellness, which operates a dispensary in Niles.

• The Cannabist (CQ) Company that operates the gLeaf dispensary in Warren.

• Cresco Labs.

• Curaleaf, which operates a dispensary in Girard.

• Green Thumb Industries.

• Jushi, which operates the Beyond Hello dispensary in Warren.

• Trulieve

• Verano

The lawsuit alleges each defendant violated Ohio’s Valentine Act, its primary antitrust law, by:

Entering into reciprocal trade agreements with competitors.

Sharing competitively sensitive information.

Engaging in discriminatory distribution practices that disadvantaged independent Ohio cannabis operators.

According to the complaint, these actions reduced product choice and quality for Ohio consumers, stifled innovation and allowed the defendants to maintain or increase competitive prices in the state’s cannabis market.

Attorney General Yost is seeking injunctive relief to halt the alleged unlawful conduct.

Several of the defendants challenge the lawsuit.

Corporate representatives of CuraLeaf expressed dismay that a complaint was filed after months of cooperation, calling the litigation “premature,” and they maintain their business practices are “legitimate, necessary, and pro-competitive.”

Jushi representatives said they respectfully disagreed with the allegations, arguing that the complaint contains mischaracterizations and unfairly focuses only on publicly traded operators while ignoring the company’s significant business with dozens of local Ohio cannabis operators.