Ohio AG Sues Multiple MSO’s for Anti-Competitive Practices
There’s something boiling over in Ohio, and it’s not just the THC content. The state’s legal market is being cracked open from two sides: on one end, a looming ban on intoxicating hemp products; on the other, a state lawsuit that just named nine of the largest multistate operators in the country for carving up dispensary shelf space like a prison meal tray.
Buckeye
Filed February 6, 2026, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost did something few in power ever do — he called bullshit on the rigged game everyone already knew was rigged. According to court documents, these big players — Ascend, Ayr, Cannabist, Cresco, Curaleaf, GTI, Jushi, Trulieve, and Verano — allegedly built backroom deals to prioritize each other’s products across the state’s dispensaries. National purchasing agreements disguised as “strategy.” Mutual shelf-space quotas dressed up like brand loyalty. And a deliberate kneecapping of small local growers and processors during a time when product was flowing and prices should’ve been dropping.
Instead? Prices stayed bloated. Selection shrank. And independent operators were allegedly ghosted off the menu — no note, no call, just gone.
The case hinges on Ohio’s Valentine Act, an antitrust law. Yost is going after reciprocal trade agreements, the sharing of competitive info, and discriminatory buying behavior — the kind of soft corruption that never shows up in crime dramas but screws more businesses than any stickup ever could.
SB56
And while all this is unfolding, the hemp side of the industry is also getting pushed off the cliff. Senate Bill 56 — Ohio’s new golden cage — essentially forces all intoxicating hemp into licensed dispensaries. If you’re not on the inside, you're not selling. A group of reformers is trying to put the law to a public vote, but until then, the squeeze is on.
Connection?
Legally, none. The antitrust suit is a courtroom battle. The hemp debate is a street fight with petitions and politics. But follow the scent, and you’ll find they’re hunting the same thing: control over who gets to sell what, and where.
Big operators back the hemp ban because it kills off non-licensed competition. They already own the dispensary system, and now they’re accused of locking up the shelves inside those dispensaries too. If that’s true, then the Ohio market isn’t just a limited market — it’s a curated club where access is sold or traded, and outsiders need not apply.
Now, let’s not get too self-righteous. Everyone plays this game in one form or another — including in New Mexico, Colorado, California, everywhere the market’s old enough to form cliques. Strategic partnerships exist. Shelf space is negotiated. And when licensing is tight, those with vertical integration have the leverage to cut deals and manage risk. But there’s a difference between business strategy and coordinated suppression. One’s a hustle. The other’s a cartel.
