Gone are the days of stoners being forced to choose between one or two marijuana products in clear plastic bags sealed with plain stickers. Now, when a customer goes into a dispensary, they have options.

Legal weed is expected to create more than a quarter million new American jobs by 2020, according to a new study. That is, unless a potential federal crackdown snuffs out the growing industry in states where marijuana is now legal.

A report released recently by New Frontier Data, a Washington, D.C., startup linked to a group of marijuana industry investors, projects that legal marijuana sales will surpass $24 billion nationwide by 2025 and create at least 280,000 jobs within the next three years.

Horizons has filed a preliminary prospectus for a new ETF to help investors get into cannabis stocks.

The Horizons Medical Marijuana Life Sciences ETF, which will trade under the ticker HMMJ on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Marijuana stocks like Canopy Growth (WEED.TO) have piqued the interest of Canadian investors since moving over from the Venture exchange in 2016.

But Jacob Capital Management Head of Research Khurram Malik, told BNN Monday that proposed cannabis ETFs might not be the pure play investors might be looking for in the marijuana space.

The smooth rhythms of jazz reverberate across a crowded warehouse. Modern art and white string lights decorate plywood walls. Men in suits take long drags from tightly rolled joints in between spoonfuls of royal red shrimp ceviche.

This is the future of recreational marijuana in America and it’s beginning in Colorado.

The White House hinted, last week, that it may crack down on states that have legalized recreational marijuana.

Marijuana industry experts hope a new jobs prediction report might take the target off of the legal pot business.

According to a report from Frontier Data, marijuana-related jobs are set to outpace manufacturing jobs in the United States by 2020.

The report estimates over the next three years, legalized marijuana will create 300,000 jobs.

Australian patients struggling to access medical cannabis are welcoming the Australian government’s announcement last week to allow importers to source cannabis products from international suppliers. The change is expected to ensure that patients currently waiting for medicine obtain it within eight weeks. But uncertainty still surrounds the changes, and experts are now calling for a more comprehensive approach to meeting Australian demand for medical cannabis.

It remains to be seen what focused marketing will do to expand the diversity of people who use legal cannabis.

Advocates, investors and entrepreneurs believe that the profile of marijuana users will change now that cannabis is legal. They all have one thing in common -- wanting to make money from the new cannabis consumer.

Many of the cannapreneurs I’ve spoken with are hopeful that new business data will enable the industry to monitor the change in the color, age and socio-economic background of cannabis users. That’s not necessarily the case.

Beyond all the speculation, there are also some undeniable realities that have to be factored in.

Plumb will speak at TechfestNW this March 23-24 at the Portland Art Museum.

WW spoke with him in advance of his TechfestNW appearance about agriculture, medicine and the moon.

Are there other arenas outside of agriculture?

Another big subject is cannabis therapeutics—exploring some of the emerging technology allowing us to augment quality of life. We're able to bring chemistry and genomics into the equation to serve people into a specific fashion, working with seizure disorders, IBS, chronic pain, issues that occur if you're an oncology patient.

Organigram Holdings Inc (CVE:OGI) (OTCMKTS:OGRMF) has held up nicely in spite of a a product recall and profit taking in the cannabis sector. The product recall was initially bad news for the company, but the company handled it in the same way that Johnson & Johnson handled the Tylenol recall in the 1980s. Organigram’s aggressive response strengthened the company’s brand in the eyes of its customers and this bodes well for shareholders. Taking a closer look, it’s easy to see why Organigram remains a top cannabis pick for 2017 and beyond.