Cannabis Company Files Unfair Trade Practice Suit Against Hemp THC Retailers

The multi-state cannabis operator Jushi Holdings has filed an unfair business practices lawsuit against intoxicating hemp product retailers. A multistate cannabis operator based in Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit claiming that smoke shops and other hemp THC product retailers engage in unfair trade practices that undercut the legal cannabis industry, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

The complaint was filed on Wednesday by several subsidiaries of Scranton-based Jushi Holdings Inc., which operates 18 medical cannabis shops in the state.

Adult-use cannabis remains prohibited in Pennsylvania. However, like in many other states, the federal legalization of industrial hemp — and subsequent proliferation of intoxicating hemp products, dubbed “gas station weed” in the complaint — has led to a recreational, hemp-based gray market for THC.

“The influx of these illegal products into unregulated retail channels directly undermines the Commonwealth’s regulated medical marijuana program. This scheme grants [smoke shops] a substantial and unlawful economic advantage, shifts compliance burdens onto lawful operators, endangers public health, and destabilizes the regulated market.” — Excerpt from the lawsuit

Lawmakers in the Pennsylvania House this year approved an adult-use cannabis legalization bill, but the proposal died shortly in the Senate.

Meanwhile, four out of Pennsylvania’s five neighboring states — New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Ohio — and neighboring Canada have all adopted policies to legalize and regulate adult-use cannabis.