You could rightfully call 2018 a turning point for marijuana stocks. Canada legalized marijuana for recreational use by adults. Michigan became the 10th U.S. state to legalize recreational marijuana, while Missouri and Utah joined the growing club of states that allow medical marijuana. And the November 2018 elections resulted in more representatives in the U.S. Congress who support changes to federal laws regarding marijuana. 

The opening of Canada's recreational marijuana market in October is undeniably big, but the validation of marijuana as medicine could be even more important.

In this clip from The Motley Fool's Industry Focus: Healthcare, analyst Shannon Jones and Todd Campbell discuss why FDA approval of GW Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:GWPH)cannabis-derived epilepsy drug was must-know news this year.

Tilray has signed a global partnership with a division of Swiss drug giant Novartis to develop and distribute its medical marijuana in legal jurisdictions around the world.

The Canadian pot firm said Tuesday it’s reached an agreement with Sandoz to boost the availability of medical cannabis products globally, building on an existing alliance with Sandoz Canada. The two companies will work together to commercialize Tilray’s non-smokable medical marijuana offerings, co-brand certain products, develop new products and educate pharmacists and physicians about pot.

Province Brands — which is developing 0% ABV beers infused with the plant’s psychoactive compound, THC — has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Caribbean distribution of its products with Ayre Resorts, a new collection of five-star properties opening its first resort in Antigua in 2021.

The startup, which is currently unable to sell the THC beers in Canada while the country’s cannabis legislation comes into force, also makes Cambridge Bay Imperial Pilsner; an alcoholic hemp-based beer.

Cannabis moved one step closer to being a tradable commodity like wheat or oil on Tuesday after a U.S.-based group launched the first benchmark price to track Canadian wholesale cannabis prices.

Jonathan Rubin, chief executive officer of New Leaf Data Services LLC, the parent company of Cannabis Benchmarks which already releases similar U.S. pot prices, said demand to develop a benchmark Canadian cannabis price grew steadily after Canada became the first developed country in the world to legalize recreational use of the drug. 

"Even though the Canadian market isn’t as big as the U.S. market, we saw the Canadian market as incredibly important," Rubin said in a phone interview with BNN Bloomberg. 

The global cannabis market could be as big as $150 billion by 2025.

October saw Canada embrace full legalization.

And cannabis just got another big boost: in December, the U.S. Senate approved a Farm Bill full of pro-hemp provisions.

Whole Foods Market expects hemp products to be among the Top Ten items in 2019.

Canada's trailblazing move to legalize cannabis for recreational use, which sparked an entirely new industry and had wide-ranging implications for nearly every facet of society, has been voted The Canadian Press Business News Story of the Year.

The term "disruption" in business has become so overused that it has become an empty cliche, but it is warranted in the case of pot legalization, said Andrew Meeson, deputy business editor at the Toronto Star.

"It's hard to think of an area in Canada that hasn't been shaken up: not just commerce (from criminal act to booming startup to takeover target in the blink of an eye), but also policing, health care, justice, politics. Even culture (just ask Tommy Chong)," he said.

The Hemp Farming Act of 2018 was a proposal to amend the status of hemp (less than 0.3% THC) under federal law, by removing its status as a Schedule I controlled substance, and instead classifying it as an agricultural commodity. The bill has passed the U.S. Senate, as well as the House, and is now awaiting a signature from the President before it becomes law. Following the passage of the bill into law, according to Brightfield Group, the industry could grow from its current size of US$800 million to over US$20 billion by 2022.

2018 has been quite the year for Canada’s marijuana sector.

The majority of pot stocks are up substantially, largely based on a nice first half of the year. Investors who sold in August or September did pretty well, and the sector surged to an all-time high in early October right before the drug was officially legalized.

It seems like legalization day was the turning point, since Canada’s largest marijuana companies have gotten absolutely hammered since, falling anywhere from 30% to 60%. A number of different issues have hit the sector hard, including reports of consumer shortages, attacks from short-sellers, and a general stock market decline.

Simply put, investors just aren’t as excited about the future of pot as they were before.

A game changer for the cannabis industry is quietly being pushed through the U.S. political system. It’s something that’s barely getting any media attention, but could be a much bigger boon to cannabis producers than this year’s ill-fated legalization drama.

What I’m talking about is the federal-level legalization of hemp in the U.S.