High Tide Inc. ("High Tide" or the "Company") (CSE:HITI) (OTCQB:HTDEF) (FRA:2LY), an Alberta-based, retail-focused cannabis corporation enhanced by the manufacturing and wholesale distribution of smoking accessories and cannabis lifestyle products, announced that on Friday, April 12, 2019 the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario ("AGCO") approved and issued Retail Operator Licences (the "Licences") to High Tide's counterparties Steven Fry and Saturninus Partners (collectively, the "Winners") and also issued Retail Store Authorizations (the "Authorizations") to the Winners' respective stores Canna Cabana Hamilton ("Hamilton") and Canna Cabana Sudbury ("Sudbury").  The Winners are aiming to open their Canna Cabana-branded locations on or before April 20, 2019.

Big money is flowing into the legal marijuana industry, and both Wall Street and investors have taken notice. By the end of the next decade, depending on your preferred source, Wall Street investment banks foresee anywhere from $50 billion to $75 billion in annual sales, placing cannabis on par with the global soda industry.

One pesky stamp has become the symbol of a continuing problem in Canada: Pot producers struggling to get enough cannabis to market, at least in the ways that buyers want it. Pot producers had to scramble to apply the required excise-tax stamps with no glue as legalization kicked off last October, and many are still having to apply them by hand to some packages months later as supply issues continue.

There's no argument on Wall Street or among investors that the legal marijuana industry is on track to be one of the fastest-growing industries over the next five to 10 years. Depending on your preferred source, the global cannabis industry could top $31 billion in sales by 2022, and push onward to between $50 billion and $75 billion in total annual sales by the end of the next decade.

On the bright side, these revenue dollars have to go somewhere, which means there will be winners in the cannabis space. On the other hand, it's led to the almost cultlike buying of marijuana stocks based on name only, rather than underlying fundamentals.

It's been a pretty incredible ride for the marijuana movement over the past couple of years. After spending decades as a taboo topic that lawmakers almost always swept under the rug, cannabis has now become a mainstream issue. It's been legalized for adult consumption in Canada, has been given the green light in some medical capacity in more than 40 countries around the world, and has more support in the U.S. than at any point over the past 50 years, according to polling by Gallup.

Recently, I wrote about weed company Aphria’s ambitious $1 billion sales targetand the difficulty of hitting that goal. This time, I heard a similar tune from Canopy Growth (TSX:WEED)(NYSE:CGC). Being the largest publicly traded weed stock in the world, the goal of $1 billion net revenue is not ill-conceived.

Cindi Phelps never imagined herself running a pot shop. She smoked weed as a teenager, but as an adult she says she became "cranky" about cannabis, endlessly lecturing her kids and judging everyone who touched the stuff.

It was only when she neared 50 that she realized marijuana could soothe her pain from a chronic health issue. Now that she manages the Tamarack Cannabis Boutique in Kimberley, B.C., Phelps can relate to customers who are nervous about trying pot for the first time in decades -- or ever.

About 15 to 20 per cent of her customers fall into this category, and most are baby boomers, she said.

Incredible growth opportunities in the stock market arguably come about just once or twice per generation. The legalization of marijuana in Canada this past October, and in more than three dozen countries around the world in recent years, just might be this generation's incredible growth story.

The global marijuana market is worth $150 billion, and industry watchers think widespread legalization could result in legal marijuana sales that top $200 billion worldwide in 15 years.

The potential to profit from pot is significant, but investors' optimism has caused valuations to rocket higher.

Although many marijuana stocks are trading near their 52-week highs, Aphria (NYSE:APHA), KushCo Holdings (NASDAQOTH:KSHB), and CannTrust Holdings (NYSE:CTST) have recently seen their share prices stumble. Should you buy these beaten-up pot stocks?

Numbers released this week by Statistics Canada say cannabis prices have risen an average of 17 per cent since last October.

In Nova Scotia, the average price -- legal or black market -- went from $7.29 to $8.73 per gram, up 19.7 per cent.

The biggest change was in New Brunswick, up an average of 30.5 per cent, while the lowest change was in British Columbia, with an increase of just 3.7 per cent.

The numbers are based on consumer submissions to Statistics Canada since legalization.