Canopy Growth Corp. has signed a deal to buy skin-care company This Works for $73.8 million in cash.

The Ontario-based cannabis company says This Works will be part of its entry into the natural wellness industry and boost its international presence.

Based in London, This Works offers a range of natural skin-care and sleep products. CBD, or cannabidiol, a compound derived from hemp and marijuana, is increasingly being used in a variety of products that tout health benefits.

Canopy Growth says it will help This Works with the development of a new line of skin care and sleep solution products infused with CBD.

This Works chief executive Anna Persaud is expected to remain at the helm of operations after the acquisition.

As the marijuana industry continues to grow exponentially, cannabis companies in both the US and Canada are looking to increase their visibility and gain a share of the burgeoning market. One company that has proven its worth is OrganiGram Holdings (TSXV:OGI) (NASDAQ:OGI).

The 40-hectare farm in Southwestern Ontario will soon be home to the province’s first commercial outdoor cannabis crop when planting begins next month.

The operation east of Brantford — approved by Health Canada last week — will create nearly 200 jobs at the Southwestern Ontario pot producer 48North and catapult it into one of the country’s largest by capacity. Most of the crop will be used for cannabis extracts, concentrates and edibles — products that VanderMarel, 48North’s co-chief executive, believes will dominate the market once they’re introduced in the fall.

“Outdoor is the future, for sure,” she said, noting no other agricultural products produced for extraction are cultivated inside.

“We don’t grow grapes indoors for wine, or canola for canola oil.”

Production efficiency can be defined as the ratio of output produced by a process to the total energy or resources expended to produce that output.

When looking at cannabis companies, one way to gauge how efficient they are is by looking at the ratio of grams produced to the square footage of production facilities.

This can provide an outlook on how efficiently a company is using their facility given its size to maximize their cannabis output.

Today we’ve identified four Canadian cannabis stocks that have notably efficient domestic operations, based on estimated domestic gram production capacity divided by the sum of the square footage of all their domestic production facilities.

In the seven months since the Trudeau government legalized recreational marijuana use, licensed producers across the country have been locked in a frenetic race to grow mass quantities of cannabis for the new market. But amid the rush for scale, questions of sustainability have often taken a back seat.

According to EQ Research LLC, a U.S.-based clean-energy consulting firm, cannabis facilities can need up to 150 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year per square foot. Such input is on par with data centres, which are themselves 50 to 200 times more energy-intensive than a typical office building.

Cannabis stocks had an upbeat start Wednesday, with shares broadly up across US and Canadian markets.

The North American Marijuana Index, which tracks the top cannabis stocks in the US and Canada, was up 0.5% to 276.3 points by Wednesday's close. The Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF was up 1% at C$20.40.

Buds

Namaste Technologies Inc (CVE:N) (OTCMKTS:NXTTF) shares were soaring on Wednesday, up 17.6% at C$0.87, up 16.8% at US$0.65. 

When marijuana became legal across Canada last October, it became a little easier for recreational users to access cannabis.

First, you could buy it online and as of April 1st, you could purchase it legally at a handful of brick and mortar stores.

But for years, the 330,000 Canadians with medicinal cannabis prescriptions have been tied to their mailboxes, ordering online and waiting for the delivery.

They can’t get their prescriptions filled at a pharmacy, and instead have to rely on non-medical professionals to help them ascertain if there are potential adverse reactions to other medications they’re taking.

There might be no industry more popular among investors right now than marijuana; and there's good reason for that. The cannabis industry is expected to grow by as much as 19% a year on a compound annual basis between 2015 and 2030 -- that's if projections of $75 billion in annual worldwide sales by 2030from Cowen Group prove accurate. But if this estimate holds up, investors in pot stocks would stand to make bank.

Choosing between the hundreds of companies looking to profit from the growing cannabis sector isn’t easy. While some might win big in the long run, many others will likely end up on the sidelines at best. Let’s turn our attention to two potential big players in the cannabis sector: Hexo (TSX:HEXO) and Charlotte’s Web Holdings(CNSX:CWEB). Which of these is the better buy?

The case for Hexo

Hexo is increasingly becoming an attractive pot stock. While the firm currently focuses on the recreational marijuana market — an overpopulated and low-margin opportunity — Hexo currently holds about 30% of the market share in the province of Quebec, thanks to a supply agreement it signed last year.

The alarming growth of health-related conditions has concerned the younger generation. Poor habitual lifestyle choices can lead to a variety of conditions such as obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Now, consumers endeavor to transition towards healthier alternatives. According to a report by Nielsen, 83% of North Americans have changed their diet to a healthier option, while 74% more engaged in physical activity to lose weight. Consumers are participating in various diet plans or ingesting supplements for health and wellness benefits. Specifically, after the passage of the U.S.