There are several trains of thought when it comes to cannabis investing at the moment. While the serious capital gains enjoyed by traders in 2018 seem to have been consigned to recent history, investors are now eyeing stocks that could cash in on the coming legalization of edibles and other peripheral marijuana products this fall.

Although there are a lot of industries expected to deliver big-time growth over the next decade, cannabis might be the kingpin of them all. The industry generated nearly $11 billion in global marijuana sales in 2018, and various Wall Street forecasts are calling for between $50 billion and $200 billion in full-year salesby 2029/2030. No matter how you cut it, the worldwide legal cannabis annual growth rate is expected to be in the double digits.

It is safe to say by now that most of those who follow the what’s what in the grand scheme of the marijuana movement have encountered just about every fathomable medical claim associated with cannabis. All one needs to do is get into a quick Google search to find several sources suggesting that medical marijuana is useful in the treatment of severe health conditions from Alzheimer’s disease to pain.

Ever since adult-use marijuana was legalized in Canada, cannabis companies intensified their marketing campaigns to win investors. Nearly all players are boasting first-mover advantages that will ensure industry-leading positions.

However, only the top-tiered weed companies, Aurora Cannabis (TSX:ACB)(NYSE:ACB) and Canopy Growth (TSX:WEED)(NYSE:CGC), have real potential to claim market leadership. The rest of the cannabis companies know that the two giants are in a different league.

There’s a new green scene in downtown Lacombe as a total of four cannabis dispensaries are in the midst of opening.

Fuzzy Budz became the first to open last week, and will soon be followed by the opening of Merry Guanas on Thursday, Aug. 1, thanks to the Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) Commission’s lift on the retail cannabis licence moratorium at the end of May.

The four stores, which also include Canna Cabana and MJAYZ Cannabis Corp., will actually give Lacombe and it’s 13,000 residents more cannabis stores than nearby Red Deer with over 100,000 residents.

Aphria Inc. has posted its first profitable quarter since the legalization of recreational cannabis, driven largely by revenue from its German distributing partner CC Pharma and significantly higher volumes of cannabis sales in Canada’s adult-use market.

For its fourth quarter, which ended May 31, Aphria generated net revenue of $128.6 million — an increase of 75 per cent from the previous quarter — while net income and adjusted EBITDA were both in positive territory at $15.8 million and $0.2 million, respectively.

The Leamington, Ont.-based company also exceeded most analysts’ expectations on a key indicator — the quantity of cannabis sold on the Canadian market.

Although the lives of patients dealing with a traumatic brain injury have improved manifold in recent years, they find themselves vulnerable to a host of side-effects that come with the modern-day medicine such as opioid painkillers, antidepressants, mood stabilizers and anti-seizure medicines.

The good news, however, is that we can now make use of legal cannabis to treat a traumatic brain injury, without the fear of death and other side-effects (recall, marijuana consumption has never resulted in a single death thus far).

The vast majority of cannabis stocks flat out wilted under the summer heat in 2019. Top dogs like Aphria, Aurora Cannabis, and Canopy Growth (NYSE:CGC) all saw their market caps take a whopping 20% haircut in just the past 30 days.

For investors looking for some good stocks to jump on board, the three below have all been doing well in July and could still have a lot more upside left.

Air Canada  (TSX:AC)(TSX:AC.B) is coming off another strong quarter where earnings came in above what was estimated for the airline. And despite being at 52-week highs, the stock has shown no signs of slowing down anytime soon. In just one year, the stock has doubled in value, becoming one of the hottest buys on the TSX.

When looked at over a multiyear stretch, the cannabis industry has delivered plenty of big winners. If investors had bought into a handful of the most popular pot stocks at the beginning of 2016, they'd be up a quadruple-digit percentage today.

However, the past four months haven't been pretty for cannabis stocks, with some folks suggesting that the marijuana bubble has (once again) burst. Supply issues throughout Canada have constrained the amount of marijuana products hitting dispensary store shelves, while high tax rates in the U.S. have fueled the black market, leading to declining sales and bottom-line projections almost across the board.