The cannabis industry has grown at a tremendous pace in the recent years due to the continuing legalization efforts seen around the world. The rapid growth of the industry has now caught the attention of Wall Street's financial institutions as well, who have begun to cover the marketplace. Investment banks such as Piper Jaffray, RBC Capitals, and Cowen have backed the industry by covering public companies that are dabbling with cannabis. For example, RBC Capitals analyst Nik Modi believes that cannabis is the next up and coming global industry. Modi expects the legal U.S. cannabis market to grow at a projected CAGR of 17% and reach as much as USD 47 Billion within the next decade.

The Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index (TSX:HMMJ) is an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) designed to provide investors with diversified exposure to North American publicly-listed cannabis companies.

Harvest One Cannabis Inc (CVE:HVT) (OTCMKTS:HRVOF) announced Thursday that through its wholly-owned subsidiary and cultivation arm United Greeneries Ltd, it had completed its first shipment of medical cannabis to Shoppers Drug Mart.

Consolidation continues in the Canadian marijuana sector as key players position themselves to capitalize on long-term opportunities in the country and overseas.

Smaller cannabis companies that don’t have the scale or a sustainable competitive advantage are seeking partners that share their expansion objectives, while the big marijuana stocks are searching for strategic assets and capacity growth in an attempt to keep up with medical and recreational cannabis demand.

Since the Farm Bill was signed in late December, clearing the way for states to take over hemp regulatory duties, much has transpired. Here’s a quick look at just 40 of the many major developments that have taken place recently as a result of federal hemp reforms—the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good

1. To date, more than 40 states have defined industrial hemp as distinct from marijuana and removed barriers to its production.

Cannabis stocks moved lower Wednesday, as investors scrutinized earnings from Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. and awaited a U.S. congressional committee vote next week on protecting banks that serve the sector.

Korey Bauer, Portfolio Manager of the Cannabis Growth Fund CANNX, -0.67% a mutual fund recently launched by Foothill Capital Management, said the market is likely taking a breather after a strong run-up.

“We’re up more than 50% for the year, so it’s not a surprise to see the market take a break,” he said.

According to the Cannabis Energy Report released by New Frontier Data last October, the production of legal cannabis is projected to consume 162 percent more energy by 2022.

“Based on the 16.4 million pounds of cannabis cultivated in 2017, the resulting electricity-based carbon emissions associated with that level of production was 1.8 million tons,” the report continued.

Canopy Growth Corporation (TSX: WEED) (NYSE: CGC) signed a multi-year processing and extraction agreement HollyWeed Manufacturing & Extracts Inc. 

HollyWeed North Cannabis Inc. is the parent company of HollyWeed Manufacturing & Extracts Inc., which is a female-led, LGBTQ2-positive company based in British Columbia that operates several subsidiaries specializing in the growth, manufacturing, licensing, and production of cannabis and other pharmaceutical grade products.

The Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF (TSX:HMMJ) completed its quarterly rebalance and updated investors on its new holdings on Tuesday (March 19).

With these new additions, Horizons ETFs Management confirmed the ETF now has 59 cannabis stocks in its holding list.

Horizons ETFs indicated that, as of March 15, the ETF had netted a return of 58.95 percent over a year-to-date period.

Here is a list of the stocks added to HMMJ’s portfolio:

If you're looking for one of the fastest-growing industries on the planet, you've found it with legal marijuana. It has generated less than $10 billion in annual sales worldwide in 2017, but investment bank Cowen Group is calling for up to $75 billion in global sales by 2030. For those of you keeping score at home, that's a compound annual growth rate of about 17% for 13 years. Because the industry is still relatively nascent, it means there's a lot of market share up for grabs on the recreational and medical side of the equation. This has meant that growers have been particularly aggressive expanding their production capacity organically, through partnerships, or by acquisition.