Mark this date down: October 17th.

That’s the day that Canada fully legalizes recreational cannabis.

And that’s also the date that the best kept story in the cannabis sector could be revealed.

A team that has already built two cannabis companies to a $340 million and $5 billion valuation.

But now, they are involved with something that could become much bigger... Scythian Biosciences (CSE:SCYB, OTCMKTS:SCCYF)

So, what’s going on?

First, Scythian has just closed an incredible $260 million deal with Aphria, the third-largest cannabis company in the world.

Aphria saw the potential in Scythian’s “cannabis incubator” investment plans, and agreed to sell $193 million in stock to them... and today – as they close the deal – that same stock is worth nearly $260 million at the time of writing.

That’s a $67 million windfall for Scythian... a 35 percent ROI. And that’s only one deal of many.

Scythian Biosciences (CSE:SCYB, OTCMKTS:SCCYF) story could blow the lid off the cannabis market. It’s already one of the biggest investment trends of 2018.

Canada is instituting full legalization on October 17, and the Scythian story is unlikely to stay off the radar for long when that happens.

Here are five things you need to know about Scythian...

#1 The Crucial Time is Now Because Canada Legalizes Recreational Cannabis on October 17th

For decades, marijuana was off the grid: an estimated $53 billion American market for an illegal substance without any kind of legitimate investment footprint.

Now, that’s changing. Canada is on the verge of instituting full recreational legalization.

It’s all over the news, and it’s caused a huge spike in investor interest in the cannabis sector... and it will probably only get bigger in the run up to October 17th.

But what most people don’t know is that the marijuana sector isn’t getting its backing from Wall Street, which struggles to nail down the value of the legal cannabis market while illicit growers are still in the game.

Instead, funding is coming from publicly traded companies acting as incubators for promising cannabis ventures worldwide.

And Scythian Biosciences (CSE:SCYB, OTCMKTS:SCCYF) is the top incubator that anyone can invest in through their brokerage account.

So, Scythian stock gives investors access to a huge potential upside normally reserved for Venture Capital by offering the rare opportunity to buy into dozens of companies before they hit the big time.

But mainstream investors haven’t caught on, probably because other cannabis companies have been competing so fiercely for the cannabis spotlight. And that’s opened up a big opportunity for investors to consider Scythian’s value in comparison to cannabis high flyers before October 17th.

In a short span of time, the tiny legal cannabis sector is likely to explode from near zero just a couple of years ago to $8.7 billion in sales by 2024. Worldwide, the cannabis market could reach $32 billion by 2022 and $57 billion by 2027.

Access to just a tiny sliver of that market could give Scythian a huge upside.

#2 A $57 Billion Opportunity In Cannabis By 2027

Scythian Biosciences (CSE:SCYB, OTCMKTS:SCCYF) is an international incubator of cannabis assets.

That makes it unique: most pot stocks, such as Aphria and Canopy Growth Inc., focus on cultivation, production and marketing in one country.

Calculating an upside in those kinds of companies is relatively straightforward, and in the case of Canopy most of the growth has already been realized.

With an incubator, the upside could be enormous. One estimate has the global cannabis market reaching $65 billion by 2023.

And the most bullish estimate by British firm Bryan, Garnier & Co. has legal pot sales reaching $140 billion by 2027.

Any one of Scythian’s assets could explode on to the scene, especially at a time when cannabis laws are changing all over the world at rapid speeds.

Scythian looks to invest in dozens of assets at an early stage, but it only needs one asset to make it big to realize upside from the expected $57 billion or bigger global cannabis market.

Plus, it’s the first on the scene when it comes to pot incubation.

Wall Street is waiting for federal laws to loosen... so they are leery of pot stocks, and Silicon Valley venture capital hasn’t picked up on it yet.

That leaves the field wide open for Scythian and other pot incubators to get access to the best deals first.

More importantly, it has allowed early-in investors to get in on the high-upside “early” investments normally reserved for Wall Street and Silicon Valley.

#3 Incubating Dozens of Cannabis Companies of the Future

Scythian (CSE:SCYB, OTCMKTS:SCCYF) is a unique investment.

It...

- Has an Incubator business model that has so far resulted in a high upside...

- Owns a highly diversified portfolio of cannabis assets, ranging from North and South American to Western Europe...

- Has an experienced management team with multiple global successes

- Has lower valuation than many cannabis companies...

- Is early-in to a brand new $8.7 billion market

Scythian’s “first mover” approach is to identify ideal assets in undeveloped markets and incubate them for maximum profitability.

In Latin America... Scythian established relationships with “cultivation hubs”, in a market which has over 600 million people, all potential pot customers.

In North America, 90 percent of the pot market remains illegal… and yet the market still generates more than $9 billion a year according to ArcView Market Research. Legalization will let Scythian tap that market and get around behemoths like Canopy Growth Corp.

The global legal cannabis market could be worth $57 billion in just a few years, representing exponential growth.

And if Scythian captures just a tiny fraction of that potential, its valuation should really please its shareholders.

#4 Management Team:

The executive team leading Scythian Biosciences (CSE:SCYB, OTCMKTS:SCCYF) has been at the forefront of the biggest success stories in cannabis.

They were involved in Aphria, a cannabis giant that exploded into a $5 billion company. They are also some of the leading business figures in the European cannabis industry.

But now they’re setting their sights on the high-upside incubator business.

And Scythian’s world-class team is poised to take advantage of a colossal new opportunity, one that could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

#5 Deal Closed, October 17th Approaching Fast

This deal between Aphria and Scythian Biosciences just closed, so the market is still catching up to the news.

Here’s what happened: Aphria chose to buy into Scythian, pumping it full of fresh capital for its incubation projects.

In July, Aphria announced plans to buy into Scythian, hoping to acquire a number of Scythian’s Latin America and Caribbean assets for $193 million payable mainly in Aphria stock.

Now, that Aphria stock position is worth more: $260 million on last count, an increase of 35 percent at the time of writing.

Since announcing the news, Scythian’s stock has been climbing.

But this isn’t the only deal Scythian’s working on. They have dozens of deals in the “incubator” pipeline... that Scythian plans to invest in, incubate and bring to maturity and better valuations.

It’s taking on an interest in Florida-based medical cannabis firm 3 Boys Farms LLC, which will give it access to the Florida pot market when that state embraces legalization. The company has announced its new U.S. headquarters will be in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The acquisition is Scythian’s first big step into the North American market, part of its plan to shift its attention towards specific cannabis friendly zones in the United States.

The Aphria deal may be just the beginning. Scythian has its sights set on U.S. expansion, branching out from its start in South America to embrace North America.

The news is out there. It’s only a matter of time before this little firm -- with some of the team behind Red Bull -- starts to attract even more attention.

And, so far, the company has been hard at work executing their playbook.

Expect the market to start paying attention after recreational marijuana is sold legally in Canada on October 17th.

When full legalization goes through, interest in cannabis stocks could soar.
And Scythian Biosciences (CSE:SCYB, OTCMKTS:SCCYF) shareholders will get a piece of this growing cannabis market... through an early mover that keeps stacking up success upon success.

Other companies looking to shake up the cannabis market:

Canopy Growth (TSX:WEED) was the first cannabis organization to surpass the $1 billion market cap level, and it is one of the biggest names in the industry. When the upcoming cannabis legislation is passed in Canada, a jump in stock price here is near-inevitable.

The problem with stocks of this size, of course, is that the upside is unlikely to be near the upside of those new and dynamic smaller players in the space – but the downside is far more appealing for a conservative investor.

iAnthus Capital Holdings (CSE:IAN) iAnthus is a U.S. based cannabis company listed in Canada. The company has recently taken an interest in cannabis-based businesses in four U.S. states. While uncertainty about changing regulation has kept many companies from investing in U.S. cannabis, in Q3 2017, the Trump administration reaffirmed the Cole Memorandum which allows states to legalize marijuana and precludes the federal government from pursuing action against operators in compliance with state cannabis regulations.

In a recent release, iAnthus highlighted plans to cultivate and expand its marijuana dispensary plans. "As we prepare to open the first of our Florida dispensaries, we have made significant investments to upgrade our Lake Wales cultivation facility to quickly scale production and meet the expected demand," said Carlos Perea, Chief Operating Officer at iAnthus.

Village Farms International (TSX:VFF) is a broad agriculture company that specializes in greenhouse cultivation of various products, from tomatoes to cucumbers and peppers. It is also one of the first greenhouse growers to join the U.S. Hemp Roundtable.

In Village Farms’ move to diversify, it is looking at hemp as a possible sustainable alternative for many other products. Stephen C. Ruffini , CFO of the company noted, "Village Farms has been at the leading edge of new agricultural opportunities that can more profitably leverage our decades of experience as a vertically integrated greenhouse grower coupled with the scale and excellence of our North America greenhouse operations.”

Aurora Cannabis Inc (TSX:ACB) With its reputation and expertise, Aurora decided to make a move into a major exchange. The company announced that it is eyeing a major exchange in the U.S., though it did not provide exact details on the date or actual exchange it was considering.

Aurora is a producer and distributer of medical marijuana across Canada. The company, formally Prescient Mining Corp, is a Vancouver-based business founded a little over one decade ago. Aurora’s main objective is to bring medicine to the people reliably and economically, which sets it aside from many of its major competitors. In the marijuana industry, patients will often have to jump through hoops to procure their medication, but with Aurora’s caring and knowledgeable staff, patients no longer have to worry.

One of the most appealing things for patients ordering medications from Aurora is the company’s delivery method. This marijuana major sells marijuana by phone and over the internet and then it is delivered straight to the patient’s door.

Harvest One Cannabis (TSX.V:HVT): Harvest One Cannabis Inc, formerly Harvest One Capital Inc, is a Canadian company focused on servicing both recreational and medicinal markets.

Harvest One recently raised $25 million in equity financing and $9 million will be used to finance Phase 1 production capacity expansion at United Greeneries’ Duncan Facility.

Harvest One has seen its share price increase in September and we think the company is well-positioned to take advantage of Canada’s looming legalization of recreational marijuana.