As we near the finish line for 2018, one thing is for certain: It's been a game-changing year for the cannabis industry.

In October, following nine decades of prohibition, Canada officially legalized recreational marijuana for adults. Although it's going to take a few years for Canadian growers to get fully up to speed, as well as allow Health Canada time to approve new cultivation licenses and sales permits, this is an industry that could generate in the neighborhood of $5 billion in annual sales by the early part of the next decade.

It would take a while to cover all of the connections between marijuana producers Aphria (NYSE: APHA) and Liberty Health Sciences (NASDAQOTH: LHSIF). Aphria once owned a sizable stake in Liberty. Its CEO, Vic Neufeld, is chairman of Liberty's board of directors. Aphria co-founder and executive John Cervini also sits on Liberty's board. But despite the close ties, Aphria and Liberty Health Sciences are separate entities. And they present very different opportunities for investors. Which of these two marijuana stocks is the better buy?

Ontario reverses course on provincial pot shop plans

Quebec-based HEXO (TSX:HEXO) announced its first-quarter earnings December 13 with an almost six-fold increase in net revenue to $5.7 million from $1.1 million a year earlier.

The big highlight: HEXO sold $5.2 million in adult-use cannabis in the first two weeks after the October 17th legalization.

A move by one of the largest tobacco companies in the United States to buy half of cannabis company Cronos for $US1.8 billion ($2.5 billion) this week signals the gold rush into the marijuana industry is booming.

Altria, which owns Philip Morris – maker of Marlboro, Benson & Hedges, Alpine and a host of other cigarette brands – is desperately trying to replace sliding sales as smoking, and smokers, literally die out.

US government agency, the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention, says the percentage of people who smoke in the US has plunged off a cliff in recent years – down from 20.6 per cent in 2008 to just 14.1 per cent in 2017.

A supply glut in the Canadian recreational marijuana market might be the last thing on everyone's minds right now. The primary concern currently relates to supply shortages. Marijuana producers can't ship enough cannabis to meet the heavy demand.

Make no mistake about it, though, a supply glut is on the way. Opinions vary on when it will hit, but it wouldn't be surprising if the Canadian marijuana market experiences a supply surplus by 2020.

If you’re looking for pullbacks in the cannabis space with interesting technical features, you could do a lot worse than CannaRoyalty Corp (OTCMKTS:ORHOF). The stock has dropped about 48% in the past 6 weeks but just caught some key support at a rising 200-day simple moving average. To help flesh out that picture, the company just announced that the new objective is to grow the fund to $1 million over the next four years.

The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (the "Company" or "TGOD") (TSX: TGOD) (US: TGODF) is pleased to announce the launch of its brand new experiential patient and consumer website focused on delivering the absolute best online experience in the industry.

Aphria (TSX:APHA)(NYSE:APHA) has been dominating the headlines for all the wrong reasons of late. With the stock now down 63% from its high, you can bet that contrarian “bargain hunters” (more like cigar-butt marijuana traders) have been placing their bets on the badly bruised pot stock with the hopes of realizing massive upside over the near term.

While this massive short-term upside potential exists (Aphria stock could easily triple), I think such an explosive move is contingent on the occurrence of two events, neither of which have a high probability of happening over the next year.

After a long wait, Vancouver-based AgraFlora finally received a cultivation license from Health Canada in October for the AAA Heidelberg facility, in London, Ontario, of which AgraFlora currently owns 56 per cent. In addition to Heidelberg, AgraFlora also runs a 2.2-million sq. ft. cannabis propagation greenhouse in Delta, BC, and is a member of industry heavyweight Canopy Growth Corp’s “CraftGrow” program which partners Canopy with smaller, high-quality operations.

AgraFlora President and CEO Derek Ivany says that through the Cannmart deal his company will be helping to supply the highest quality flower to medical marijuana patients across Canada.