Scandals and controversy have dented investor confidence in the marijuana sector this year. Top producers have lost billions in value and well-known leaders have resigned as misdeeds and missed expectations were uncovered by the public market. 

Now that the sentiment has swung negative, I believe that savvy, contrarian investors finally have a chance to find value and add some great marijuana stocks to their portfolio. Legal cannabis still presents a massive economic opportunity. 

According to estimates by market specialist Grand View Research, the global legal marijuana industry was worth US$13.8 billion in 2018.

By 2025, the firm forecasts the market to expand to over US$66.3 billion, implying a five-fold return for investors willing to take a long-term bet. 

If you haven’t noticed, the marijuana industry is booming. In the US alone, the industry is worth billions of dollars and the industry has seen an increase in jobs by 76% in 2018. The industry is full of a wide variety of different products falling under the categories of plants, oils, waxes, edibles, and topicals.

It's not by accident that the biggest cannabis stocks belong to companies based in Canada. After all, Canada was the first major economic power to legalize adult-use recreational cannabis after already building a thriving medical cannabis market.

But it's also no secret that the U.S. is by far the biggest cannabis market in the world. For Canadian cannabis companies to achieve the growth that they and investors want, they must enter the U.S. market sooner or later.

Several top Canadian cannabis producers have already revealed their strategies for competing in the U.S. market. Here are the three Canadian cannabis stocks that appear to be in the best position to win in the U.S.

In prior pieces, I’ve highlighted several reasons why Aurora Cannabiswas one of my preferred picks in the highly speculative marijuana market. Aurora was growing tonnes of weed in a somewhat efficient manner, which is how a firm can succeed in a commoditized market.

Although you could make a quick buck from betting on cannabis cultivators, I’d much prefer owning shares of a company that’s able to differentiate itself in some form or another. As a grower and distributor of weed, there isn’t much wiggle room to promote brand differentiation with all the regulations that are in place.

Ontario’s second pot licence lottery will go ‘quite smoothly,’ lawyer says

The legal marijuana industry is transitioning from its growth phase into its profit phase as more and more markets open for business.

One of the many benefits of this transition is that the biggest fear of investors— that marijuana stocks are overvalued and won’t be making money any time soon—are assuaged. The result is that the top pot stocks will see big gains.

That’s exactly what’s happening with Aphria Inc (NYSE:APHA). Aphria stock jumped by more than 32% in after-market trading following an announcement on August 1 that the company became the first major Canadian pot producer to turn a net profit.

Some industry experts, however, say that medical cannabis is going to be much more lucrative globally. During a panel presentation last week, investors got the chance to learn from cannabis expert Charles Taerk about the best moves to make in marijuana.

Taerk, who is president and CEO of Faircourt Asset Management, said that medical cannabis is where the most impressive opportunities are going to develop in the next few years as the industry stabilizes.

Faircourt Asset Management is a sub-advisor to Ninepoint Partners, a Toronto-based investment manager. Faircourt has its hand in the metals sector, North American equities and, more recently, the cannabis space through the Ninepoint Alternative Health Fund.

For years, marijuana stocks have been the buzzy go-to investment. If investors had the stomach and wherewithal to invest in some of the most popular names back at the beginning of 2016, they'd likely be sitting on gains of more than 1,000%right now. Even investors who bought into the industry during the first quarter made out quite well, with the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences ETF , which holds more than four dozen cannabis stocks of various weightings, gaining over 50%.

Despite the range of issues that have emerged in recent months and impacted cannabis stocks, including Canopy Growth’s horrendous fiscal 2019 results and CannTrust’s regulatory investigation, cannabis cultivator Aphria (TSX:APHA)(NYSE:APHA) delivered an unexpected profit.

Only one cannabis-impaired driving charge has been laid in Calgary since legalization last October, according to police.

The Calgary Police Service (CPS) believes that number will go up with more officer training and as roadside screening devices advance in technology, but one of the city's top impaired driving defence lawyers says he's not so sure that will be the case.

"There's no charges, there's no wave of cannabis impaired drivers, there's just a big nothing so far," says Tim Foster, whose firm gets about 30 impaired driving cases every month with almost all being alcohol-related.

It's always been illegal to drive while high, so Foster says he wasn't expecting an influx of charges after legalization.