I am quite certain that if the government decided to grow and sell tomatoes only through its own stores, and also control the distribution, that we would a) be purchasing an inferior tomato product, b) have far less variety of product, c) pay higher prices, and d) discover after a time that all the tomatoes had been contaminated through use of a carcinogenic pesticide.  Of those four concerns, (d) has already happened with marijuana.  I'm not against government involvement in enterprise; and I support the idea of the LCBO.  Remember though that the LCBO only taxes and sells liquor and the producer market is very broad and open. This won't be the case with cannabis.  The Ontario taxpayer has paid dearly for the inefficiencies of crony capitalism and government this last decade, so this is most definitely the wrong way to go.