Sure, a state marijuana monopoly would be federally illegal. I used to think it would be bulletproof as a practical matter, in light of Louisiana’s experiment. But President Trump might pick on states that he disfavors, as he does with California localities and ICE. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ar-AA1GMkuT
Louisiana’s two land grant state universities had a state monopoly to produce medical marijuana for years before private industry shoved them aside. Here’s a photo from the HBCU, whose inclusion in legislation may have helped with social equity concerns:
https://www.subr.edu/news/southern-launch-thc-line-of-medical-marijuana-products
In a 2013 North Carolina poll, state marijuana sales beat private sales by 3-to-1. The full poll with cross-tabs is at https://newrevenue.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/nc-marijuana-polling-march-2013.pdf. Not only do monopolies work best for public health, avoid all kinds of litigation by disappointed license applicants, maximize public revenue, and allow nimble pricing (unburdened by inflexible taxes) to compete with the illicit market; as our Stanford friend Keith Humphreys says, in light of the poor track record of social equity licensing, “In general retail monopolies (that’s where the industry still produces the product; the state sells it) have a better record of hiring diverse employees than do private companies.”
President Trump might leave state marijuana sales in Red-State New Hampshire alone, but he might pick on North Carolina, with our Democratic Governor. It’s about how much risk a state wants to face.
The Center for New Revenue 