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American Cannabis Consumer Alliance

Who controls the market?

A small group of multi-state operators holds most of the stores where licenses are capped, puts its brands on thousands of shelves, and funds the campaigns, trade groups and super PACs that shape who gets to compete. This is what the public record shows.

77%

of Florida's dispensaries belong to 11 multi-state companies

598 of 781 medical dispensing locations. Florida licensees must grow, make and sell their own products, so a company's store count is also its shelf.

Florida Office of Medical Marijuana Use, Sept. 25, 2026

$207M

from Trulieve to two Florida ballot campaigns

$145.1M for the 2024 amendment, which would have let existing licensees sell to adults first, and $62.0M for the 2026 effort.

Florida Division of Elections filings, Smart & Safe Florida, 2022–2026

$13M

raised by one new federal super PAC

Every dollar America First Agriculture Action raised through June 2026 came from MSOs or from an MSO-funded PAC.

Federal Election Commission, committee C00906701

1,123

stores carry RYTHM, the most widely stocked MSO brand we found

Five of the ten most widely stocked brands trace back to one company, Green Thumb.

Headset store panel, Aug.–Sept. 2026

Where licenses are capped, a few companies own the counter.

In states that limit how many licenses exist, the same handful of companies run most of the stores. Pick a state.

Different names on the jar. Often the same owner.

MSOs sell through dozens of brands, in their own stores and wholesale into independent ones. What looks like choice on the menu can be one company several times over.

One owner, many labels

Stores in Headset's tracking panel carrying each brand, Aug.–Sept. 2026, including the owner's own stores. *Green Thumb sold these brands to RYTHM, Inc. in 2025, keeps a stake of about a third and licenses them back in its 14 states.

Help us count the shelves

The ACCA Shelf Census will ask members to log which brands their local store carries, about ten minutes once a quarter. It's how we'll measure who really fills the menu in your state.

Join to take part

Ballot campaigns, super PACs and an inauguration.

Companies can't give directly to federal candidates, so their money moves through super PACs, inaugural committees and state ballot campaigns. Executives give personally on top.

Federal super PAC · 2025–26

America First Agriculture Action

Registered May 2025; shares a treasurer with MAGA Inc. Raised $13.0M through June 30, 2026, and had made no independent expenditures by then.

    Federal super PAC · 2023–26

    American Rights and Reform PAC

    Launched by the U.S. Cannabis Council as "Legalize America." Raised $6.79M in 2025–26, 96% of it from five MSOs. Gave $1.5M to the PAC at left and at least $1M to MAGA Inc.

      Trump Vance Inaugural Committee: Trulieve $750,000 · U.S. Cannabis Council $250,000. Curaleaf reported to the Senate that $250,000 it paid the Council was meant for the inaugural.

      State ballot campaigns

      Writing the rules at the ballot box

      • Florida 2024 amendment — TrulieveExisting licensees first; new licenses left to the Legislature; no home grow. Won 56%, needed 60%.$145.1M
      • Florida 2026 initiative — TrulieveJan. 2025–Apr. 2026. Added home grow. Did not qualify.$62.0M
      • Florida 2024 — five other MSOsVerano $3.5M, Curaleaf $3.0M, AYR $0.5M, Green Thumb $0.5M, Cresco $0.4M$7.9M
      • Ohio Issue 2 (2023)Cresco's CEO $295K personally plus Cresco $50K; Curaleaf $220K$565K
      • Trulieve → Republican Party of FloridaEleven gifts, 2018–2025$650K

      Political giving by company, 2017–2026

      Political giving by company
      CompanyFederal — companyFederal — executives527 groupsState (7 states)Largest recipient

      FEC itemized receipts and Form 13; IRS Form 8872; state filings in FL, IL, MA, NJ, NY, OH and PA. Executives means officers and directors only. AYR's federal figure is Arboretum Bidco, the noteholder-owned buyer of AYR's operations.

      The alphabet soup.

      Over a decade, the biggest operators built a chain of trade groups, coalitions and PACs, each one feeding the next. The names change; many of the companies and people stay the same.

      1. National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA)

        The first national trade group, open to businesses of every size, with dues of $1,000 to $15,000 a year. Its revenue peaked at $4.0M in 2019 and was $0.74M in 2025.

      2. Cannabis Trade Federation

        Formed in April by merging the New Federalism Fund with the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp, the same year two Colorado operators' leaders left NCIA's board. Its founding board companies included Green Thumb and PalliaTech, then Curaleaf's parent. It spent nearly $1M on federal lobbying in 2019.

      3. National Cannabis Roundtable

        Launched with former House Speaker John Boehner, then on Acreage's board, as honorary chair and Acreage's CEO as chair. Cresco's Charlie Bachtell became chair in 2020, with Trulieve's Kim Rivers as second vice chair. About $695K in lobbying its first year.

      4. U.S. Cannabis Council

        Founded by the Trade Federation, the Marijuana Policy Project and ten-plus MSOs. The Federation granted it $331,775. Its platform paired legalization with equity and repair. In 2022 an equity group on its board quit, criticizing its corporate focus.

      5. A super PAC and a scheduling coalition

        The Council launched the "Legalize America" super PAC, chaired by a Curaleaf executive, later renamed American Rights and Reform PAC. Seven MSOs joined the Coalition for Cannabis Scheduling Reform.

      6. US Cannabis Roundtable

        The Roundtable and the Council merged in January. Bachtell is chair and Rivers vice chair. The groups' PAC raised $6.79M, 96% from five MSOs, and gave to Trump-aligned committees.

      7. America First Agriculture Action

        Six MSOs gave $11.5M in June to a new super PAC that shares a treasurer with MAGA Inc.

      Who sits where, and who paid

      Leadership roles, founding membership and filed contributions, by company. Dues and membership fees are not public for any of these groups.

      Company roles and contributions in cannabis trade groups and political committees
      Chair, vice chair or boardFounder or memberFiled contributions

      Money we can see, by year

      Contributions in federal and IRS filings by the companies and their executives. State ballot campaigns aren't included here; they would dwarf everything else.

      Contributions by year and category
      YearFederal super PACs and committeesInaugural527 groupsExecutives

      Governors, attorneys general and legislative groups

      Governors and attorneys general enforce and shape licensing. These national groups elect them, and they report donors to the IRS, not the FEC.

      Who gets in first, and how many get in at all.

      License caps, head starts for existing medical operators and limits on new license types decide how much competition you get. Here is where MSOs showed up on those questions.

      • Existing medical operators got the first adult-use licenses.

        Cresco's CEO was the only cannabis operator on Gov. Pritzker's legalization transition subcommittee. That August, Cresco's president told investors the company had been "involved in the crafting of that legislation."

        Cresco Labs press release, May 31, 2019; Q2 2019 earnings call, Aug. 21, 2019

      • Prop 207 gave existing dispensaries the first window to sell.

        Harvest Health gave $1.42M by late October 2020, with Curaleaf and MedMen also funding the campaign. By October 2023, just 4 of the 26 original social-equity winners still had a stake in their licenses.

        Arizona campaign finance reports via press; Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, Oct. 2023

      • MSOs sued to stop the equity-first licensing program.

        A coalition including Curaleaf, Green Thumb, Acreage and PharmaCann challenged New York's CAURD program in court. The settlement let medical operators open adult-use stores starting in December 2023.

        N.Y. Supreme Court, Albany County, Index No. 902390-23

      • Curaleaf and Trulieve asked to keep a four-store limit, not two.

        The bill proposed cutting how many dispensaries one company could own from four to two. Both companies testified to keep four. The final law kept four.

        Written testimony on HB 556 / SB 516, Feb. 2023

      • Amendment 3: incumbents first, no home grow.

        Trulieve funded nearly all of the campaign. The text let the existing licensees sell to adults and left new licenses to the Legislature. It won 56% but needed 60%.

        Florida Division of Elections; initiative text

      • MSOs lobbied to close the hemp THC "loophole."

        Green Thumb, Verano and Jushi reported federal lobbying on hemp-derived THC, which competes with licensed dispensaries in about half the country.

        Lobbying Disclosure Act filings, 2024–2025

      • Verano was the only MSO to testify on SB 56.

        It opposed new potency caps and cuts to grower canopy. It did not address the bill's 400-dispensary cap or the repeal of Ohio's social-equity program.

        Ohio Senate committee testimony, Feb. 2025

      In their own words, to investors

      "Limited License markets. That's step one."Anthony Georgiadis, then CFO, Green Thumb Industries · earnings call, Aug. 28, 2019
      "The Company generally seeks to enter markets that have restrictions on the number of licenses available."Acreage Holdings · Annual Information Form, fiscal 2018
      "We strongly believe in the value in superior retail locations to create barriers to entry."Abner Kurtin, CEO, Ascend Wellness, on markets with license caps · earnings call, Aug. 10, 2021

      Where we're on the same side

      Ascend ($250K), Vireo ($125K), Verano ($50K), Curaleaf and Cresco ($41,875 each) are funding the campaign against the Massachusetts Question 8 repeal. Consumers want legal sales to survive too.

      Equity on the label. Not in the law.

      Every one of these companies talks about equity. Look at what they actually put into it, and where it came from, next to what the same companies did to the rules that decide who gets a license.

      Our view: the giving is real, but it is small, often required by law or paid by customers, and it goes to causes that don't touch market structure. The money that shapes who can compete runs the other way.

      Equity giving compared with actions on market rules, by company
      CompanyWhat it gave to equity and justiceWhere that money came fromWhat it did to the rules
      TrulieveAbout $90K: $40K raised for Last Prisoner Project and $50K to Florida LGBTQ+ groups, both in 2020A customer campaign and company gifts$207M to two Florida ballot campaigns written so existing licensees sell first. Its justice giving equals about 0.04% of that.
      Green Thumb$1.4M–$1.6M a year through its "Growing for Good" programMostly customers rounding up at the register and set days of product salesJoined the 2023 lawsuit against New York's equity-first licensing. Its CFO called limited-license markets "step one."
      Curaleaf$950K to six Illinois groups and a state fund in 2021Paid to meet Illinois' social-equity requirements for cannabis businessesJoined the New York lawsuit. Its chairman criticized equity licensing programs in New York, Illinois and California in 2023.
      VeranoSix Connecticut "equity joint ventures," at least half owned by equity applicantsForming two of them cut Verano's own conversion fee from $3M to $1.5M under Connecticut's 2021 law$3.5M to Florida's incumbents-first amendment. Testified on Ohio's SB 56 without objecting to its repeal of the state's equity program.
      Cresco LabsMore than $735K to restorative-justice groups through its SEED program; a $250K "Summer of Social Justice" in 2021Company figures. More than $150K of the 2021 drive came from vendorsSaid it was "involved in the crafting" of Illinois' law, which gave existing operators the first adult-use licenses. Multi-state operators now take 69% of Illinois revenue.
      Ascend WellnessMore than $1.8M to Last Prisoner Project by 2022A dollar-for-dollar match: customers gave about halfIts CEO told investors that in capped markets, prime store sites "create barriers to entry." Every state it operates in except Michigan caps licenses.
      Harvest Health (now Trulieve)Arizona's 2020 measure created 26 social-equity licensesHarvest gave $1.42M to the campaignThe same measure gave existing dispensaries the first window. By 2023, only 4 of the 26 equity winners still had a stake in their licenses.

      Sources: company social-impact reports and press releases; Cannabis Business Times; Hartford Business Journal (Connecticut joint ventures); Green Market Report (Curaleaf chairman, Feb. 2023); Florida Division of Elections; Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting. Giving totals are what the companies or press disclosed; full giving may be higher.

      Look up the company behind your dispensary.

      Each file pulls together stores, brands, political money, trade-group roles and the public record.

      Trulieve

      Tallahassee, Fla. · Florida's largest operator · 170 of the state's 781 locations

      CEO Kim Rivers; vice chair of the US Cannabis Roundtable.

      Stores: Trulieve · Brands: Modern Flower, Roll One, Muse, Avenue, Cultivar Collection, Momenta, Sweet Talk, Co2lors

      On the record
      • Funded Florida's 2024 amendment ($145.1M) and the 2026 effort ($62.0M).
      • Gave $750K to the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee.
      • Testified in Maryland (2023) to keep a four-dispensary limit.

      How we did this

      We matched 1,155 subsidiary and license-holding companies and 222 executives and directors from SEC filings against federal and state campaign-finance records, IRS political-organization filings, federal lobbying reports, nonprofit tax returns, legislative testimony and earnings calls. Individuals appear only if they are an officer, director or founder of one of these companies. Press figures were replaced with filed amounts wherever filings exist, and headline claims were checked against a second source.

      What this doesn't cover yet: state giving covers seven states; Arizona and Virginia records weren't searchable online. Trade-group dues are not public. Store counts come from state lists where they exist, and brand reach from an industry data panel, not every store.

      Research and data: ThndrStrm Labs. [DISCLOSURE: ThndrStrm Labs' relationship to ACCA and any paid work in the cannabis industry, and ACCA leadership's past roles at MCBA.] Data as of October 6, 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us and we'll correct it publicly.