Naturally, this game-changing investment also involved rapper Snoop Dogg and actor Patrick Stewart.

This has truly been a year of "marijuana firsts." Since the year began, we've seen the following:

Canada’s marijuana sector may be powering its way towards legitimacy as the dawn of recreational cannabis draws ever closer, but with three months to go, there’s still too much uncertainty in the space to merit your hard-earned investment dollars, says Tim Regan, managing director at Kingwest & Company, who cautions that just like cigarettes and alcohol, the government-imposed taxes on cannabis have nowhere to go but up.

You probably know by now that Canada is on course to allow the adult use of marijuana for recreational purposes in October. And you probably know that many project that the market will be big -- with some estimating first-year sales of CA$5 billion and perhaps even more.

What some might not realize, however, is that one potentially massive marijuana market won't be open for business in Canada this year. But this market should be on the path to legalization in 2019, with companies such as Canopy Growth (NYSE:CGC) champing at the bit.

Vancouver-based businesses were able to show off their products at a trade show aimed at promoting pot products over the weekend. The show, attended by nearly 100 businesses, also served as an opportunity for entrepreneurs to learn about the multi-billion dollar industry.

Recreational marijuana will be legal in Canada on October 17. Leading up to that date, there has been a swell in interest in the industry. “Right now is the time for cannabis industry,” said Amir Ahani, the owner of a tech firm that develops point of sale, or POS systems for cannabis companies.

Tilray, a Canadian-based company, became the first marijuana producer on Thursday to conduct an initial public offering in the US.

The British Columbia-based cultivator's stock soared in a sign of the increasing momentum behind the legal marijuana industry. In its first day of trading on the Nasdaq, the company's stock surged 32%, closing at $22.39, up over $5 from its IPO price of $17.

"We truly believe we're in the midst of a global paradigm shift," Tilray CEO Brendan Kennedy told Business Insider in an interview. Kennedy said listing on the Nasdaq — as a company that touches the plant directly — is a "huge milestone" for the mainstreaming of the marijuana industry in the US.

Not everyone's a fan of 'blockchain' encryption, but the cannabis industry is eyeing it for protection.

The technology that powers bitcoin could be deployed to track the flow of legal product in Canada's marijuana market without compromising the privacy of its customers.

The Cannabis Act authorizes Health Canada to implement a national tracking system for marijuana — following the journey from seed to sale — to protect the integrity of the legal market.

The challenge is to keep that information confidential in an age of widespread hacking.

Alcohol in the front, 70 strains in the back.

The Canadian province of Nova Scotia will soon become the only known place in the world with combined liquor-cannabis retailers. The twelve stores are set to open on October 17, the official launch date for Canada’s recreational market. 

The retail combination will run through the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC), the province’s government-subsidized alcohol retailer. The NSLC will also be selling cannabis separately through an online e-commerce platform.

More than 30,000 people cross the U.S.-Canadian border in Blaine, Washington, every day. For most, it's a trouble-free experience but for some Canadian business people, that seems to be changing. 

Sam Znaimer is a Vancouver, Canada-based venture capitalist who has been investing in everything from tech to telecommunications for more than 30 years. Recently, he put more than $100,000 into legal American cannabis companies. In May, when he attempted to drive across the border, he was flagged for a secondary inspection and questioned for four hours.

Nicholas Reichenbach, CEO and founder of Flow Water Inc., has run into some difficulties while trying to boost the number of staff at his three-year-old spring water company. The Toronto-based company has doubled its work force to 50 in the past year, but as with many companies in the food and beverage industry, he’s found himself in a fierce battle for talent with the nascent legal cannabis sector.

“One of our largest challenges is talent acquisition,” he said. “There have been numerous occasions where, specifically in marketing and sales, we have lost candidates to marijuana companies.”

There are so many new cannabis tradeshows around the world and meetings with investors to be had that travelling in the cannabis industry is no surprise.

You have your plane ticket and you’re ready to go. The only thing left to do is set your out-of-office auto-reply so clients know you’re away.

But is this really the best idea?

While an out-of-office reply seems to be the responsible course of action to take when away from the office, it can actually be a huge security risk and can leave you and your business vulnerable to social engineering attacks.

So before you head out of the state for a much needed summer vacation, or make your way to the next big cannabis tradeshow, you may want to rethink your out-of-office auto-reply.