Bruce Linton is not going gently into that good night.

Usually, executives who get fired will go quiet for a while, taking time to repair the damage to their ego and work out what they want to do next. But no one who knows the former co-chief executive officer of Canopy Growth Corp.was surprised to see him making the TV news rounds within hours of his announced termination on Wednesday pontificating on the future of the industry.

Tucked in amongst the swanky shops on South Granville, a new kid on the block hopes to bring new meaning to the term high-end retail.

"Being in the neighbourhood, the community has been super welcoming,” said Muse Canada president Geoff Dear as he stood in the middle of his company’s first recreational cannabis store.

Dear said the company had to clear a lot of red tape to get to this point and he’s happy to be finally serving customers.

Still, he said now that the store is open, some of the rules around recreational pot sales make it difficult to draw people in to the business.

Canopy Growth made waves with the announcement in January that it's building a large-scale hemp production facility in New York State. The company expects to have hemp cannabidiol (CBD) products on the market by the end of this year. Tilray jumped head first into the hemp market soon after Canopy's announcement with its acquisition of Manitoba Harvest, the leading hemp foods company in North America.

But what about Aurora Cannabis (NYSE: ACB)? You might not have heard very much about the company's hemp CBD efforts lately. However, there's a pretty good argument to be made that Aurora just might emerge as the king of hemp CBD.

What happened

Shares of Innovative Industrial Properties (NYSE: IIPR)  rocketed nearly 50% higher last month, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, after the real estate investment trust ( REIT ) boosted its dividend.

So what

On June 14, Innovative Industrial Properties raised its quarterly cash dividend by 33% to $0.60 per share. At its current share price of $130, that places IIP's annualized dividend yield at 1.8%.

The cannabis market is expected to grow multi-fold in the next decade, given the legalisation of Cannabis around the world for its medicinal properties and recreational purposes.

Three important pot stocks are Zelda Therapeutics Limited, Creso Pharma Limited and Althea Group Holdings limited. Let’s dive deeper into the company’s recent developments influencing their stock prices.

Few sectors have captured the imagination of investors better than the marijuana industry.

It’s easy to see why. We all know numerous people who consume marijuana on a regular basis. These folks are more likely than ever to be open about it, since the stigma surrounding the drug has really diminished. Legalization definitely helped this as well.

Medical marijuana is also a promising sector. Millions of patients are successfully using cannabis as part of a pain-management program, which is a much better choice than harsh opioids. Epileptics are also reporting widespread success using pot as part of their treatment programs, too. We’ve likely just scratched the surface of the health benefits of marijuana, although there are risks associated with long-term use.

Hexo (TSX:HEXO) has a great job of uniquely positioning itself as a prime candidate for an eventual takeover by a larger publicly traded competitor.

For one, it’s currently trading at a market capitalization of a little more than $1.75 billion. This company sits firmly above the “riff-raff” of cannabis stocks but is still cheap enough to be easily affordable to a much larger suitor.

While $1.75 billion may sound like a lot to ordinary people like you and me, when you consider the sheer magnitude of mega-cap businesses like Procter & Gamble, Kraft Heinz, and even Canada’s own Loblaw, the company’s price tag wouldn’t amount to much more than a light snack at the local cafeteria for these giant whales.

What happened

Shares of Canadian extraction specialist Neptune Wellness Solutions (NASDAQ: NEPT)gained 71.3% in the first half of 2019 (January through June), according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

This performance takes a cue from the Roman god for which the company is named as it rises from the sea of top names in the marijuana space. Shares of the three largest cannabis grower stocks by market cap -- Canopy Growth (NYSE: CGC), Aurora Cannabis, and Cronos Group -- rose 50%, 57.7%, and 53.8%, respectively, in the first six months of the year. For additional context, the S&P 500 returned 18.5% over this period.

As licensed cannabis companies struggle to match the lower prices of the legacy industry, many are shifting focus away from expensive indoor greenhouses and adding outdoor grow locations. 

CannTrust Holdings Inc. (TSX: TRST; NYSE: CTST) recently closed the acquisition of 81 acres in British Columbia for an outdoor grow, and is now awaiting Health Canada approval before beginning operations. 

The marijuana hype is over, and previously upbeat investors feel utterly disenchanted. There was never a month post-legalization of adult-use marijuana that the sector was not challenged. All major players piled up losses. Fortunately, no cannabis company has raised the flag of surrender or declared bankruptcy.