Ohio Attorney General Accuses Multistate Cannabis Operators of Price Fixing
- Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed an antitrust lawsuit against nine multistate cannabis operators (MSOs) for engaging in anti-competitive practices that harmed independent Ohio cannabis licensees.
- The lawsuit alleges that senior representatives from these MSOs agreed in late 2022 to reduce purchases from independent operators to protect their own market share, including setting explicit internal quotas negotiated nationally.
- Attorney General Yost stated that this scheme aimed to push small Ohio businesses out of the cannabis market, violating Ohio’s antitrust laws designed to protect competition and consumers.
- The lawsuit claims these conspiracies have led to reduced product quality, limited consumer choices, hindered innovation, and caused supracompetitive pricing in Ohio's cannabis industry.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has filed an antitrust lawsuit against nine multistate cannabis operators (MSOs) for anti-competitive practices that included reciprocal purchasing agreements to rig the market and disadvantage Ohio’s independent cannabis licensees.
The MSOs named in the lawsuit include:
According to the lawsuit, senior representatives from the companies agreed in late 2022 to reduce purchases from independent operators to “preserve shelf space for one another during a period of increased supply and declining prices,” with some companies even establishing “explicit internal quotas” that were “negotiated at a national level,” the attorney general’s office said in a press release.
“Our investigation uncovered allegations of an industry-wide scheme designed to push small Ohio businesses out of the market. Ohio’s antitrust laws protect competition and consumers, not backroom deals that rig the system for a select few.” — Attorney General Yost, in a statement
The lawsuit argues that the conspiracies have reduced cannabis product quality, restricted product choices, stifled product innovation, and bred supracompetitive pricing for the cannabis industry, a violation of the state’s antitrust laws.