Aphria (TSX:APHA)(NYSE:APHA) had a tumultuous end of the week. In an unexpected move, the company decided to part ways with CEO Vic Neufeld and co-founder Cole Cacciavillani. The news was first announced on Thursday, January 10, on the evening before Aphria was supposed to release its second-quarter earnings results.

Businesses and investors are rushing to partner with the 25 winners of the Ontario cannabis retail licence lottery, with offers apparently worth millions of dollars, to be involved in the province's first recreational weed stores set to open this spring.

Olivia Brown, the founder of Hamilton, Ont.-based Professional Cannabis Consulting, says one of her clients was among the 25 entities selected by the province via lottery, and has fielded three "big offers" on Monday alone.

"There's a couple of large investors, one from the United States, one of them from Amsterdam... a very established Hamilton family looking to invest," said Brown, who said her client did not want to be named.

A promise you might see a lot on the Motley Fool and other financial advice websites is, “This is the next Amazon.”

Well, for Shopify (TSX:SHOP)(NYSE:SHOP), that might just be true.

Honestly, the stock is a powerhouse, even in this volatile market. In fact, let’s just take a quick look at how much you could have made over the past few years if you had purchased this stock already:

Dr. Mark Ware has devoted the past 20 years of his career to studying marijuana, and he can remember some "dark, lean" periods when he had to fight for meagre funding.

"There were times when I was told you couldn't even use 'cannabis' and 'research' in the same sentence," he recalled.

Now, Ware is the chief medical officer of one of Canada's largest pot companies, Canopy Growth Corp., which is conducting millions of dollars worth of research on the use of cannabis to treat conditions including anxiety, insomnia and pain.

Canadian marijuana stocks have rebounded off the lows they hit in recent months, and that has investors wondering which pot stocks might be the best buys in 2019.

Let’s take a look at HEXO (TSX:HEXO) to see if one deserves to be in your portfolio right now.

Pure Global Cannabis Inc. through its subsidiary PureSinse Inc., has announced Health Canada has issued the latter a sales licence under the Cannabis Act.

Eligible and pre-registered Canadian medical patients can soon select from two dozen premium cannabis products offered by PureSinse, via its newly launched eCommerce website at PureSinse.com.

Canopy Growth to spend up to US$150M to grow hemp in New York

Pot stocks marked their third consecutive week of gains last week, the longest such winning streak since August, riding high on the broader market’s upbeat mood. This week, we’ll get a better idea of just how big the global cannabis market could get, along with a host of other potential catalysts.

Not even an earnings miss and further drama from Aphria Inc. could derail the optimism last week.

The company announced Friday that Chief Executive Officer Vic Neufeld will step down in the coming months but will remain on the board following a short-seller report that alleged Aphria bought assets at inflated prices from insiders. Aphria has now recouped much of its loss from the Dec. 3 report, including a 5.4 per cent gain on Friday.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. — the third largest Canadian cannabis company by market value — has signed a $175 million all-stock deal to buy up mid-sized licensed producer Whistler Medical Marijuana Corp., a privately held cannabis grower in B.C.

Aurora is pegging the purchase as a product and brand play — the company is particularly interested in the full suite of Whistler’s organic cannabis products and the brand recognition it has built up as one of the country’s first licensed producers to sell to the medical market.

A Southwestern Ontario marijuana grower and a fast-food chain have teamed up to open dispensary franchises across Canada, a deal marking the second partnership between a Canadian cannabis company and a restaurant operator.

WeedMD, a licensed pot producer with operations in Strathroy and Aylmer, and Pita Pit Canada, a franchise with more than 600 locations across the globe, have launched Pioneer Cannabis Corp.

“This is a very capital-efficient partnership whereby we leverage our individual expertise into the cannabis space,” WeedMD chief executive Keith Merker said Monday.