Volatility continues to run wild in the marijuana stock industry and investors are trying to figure out which pot stocks are the safest bets heading into 2019.

Let’s take a look at Canopy Growth Corp.(TSX:WEED)(NYSE:CGC) to see if it deserves to be in your portfolio right now.

Volatile market

A year ago Canopy Growth traded for $18 per share. In the middle of October, it hit a closing high above $73 and has since given back a good chunk of the gains. At the time of writing, investors can buy the stock for $43 per share.

Canadian marijuana company Cronos Group has seen its stock rally by close to 25% over the last two days, amid reports that Tobacco major Altria is in early-stage talks to invest in the company. While Cronos confirmed the talks, it noted that there was no assurance that it would reach an agreement or that a deal would go through. In this note, we take a look at what these developments could mean for Cronos.

Come January, residents in Barrie will have a new way to access medical marijuana.

Avail Cannabis Clinics in partnership with Express Aid Pharmacy will open two family style-walk-in clinics, and they'll be the only clinics to offer medical marijuana prescriptions in the city.

Justin Whitehall, the director of Avail Cannabis Clinics, explained how the clinics will work to Wei Chen, host of CBC's Ontario Morning on Wednesday. "These clinics are the first chain of family-style walk-in clinics to provide medical cannabis authorizations in addition to conventional medications and assessments. The whole family would be welcome to seek access to our medical services," he said.

Each clinic will be able to serve up to 100 people per day.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm an open lover of the little green leaf – and I've been a supporter of cannabis legalization long before I'd ever even tried the stuff. I think it's important that, as a society, we always keep in mind why laws have been put in place... but also when and why they can sometimes cease to benefit us as a nation.

It was a step in the right direction when the federal government decided to decisively move away from the so-called "war on drugs." Patients that require medicial marijuana can now access it more easily than ever, and those individuals that found themselves on the wrong side of the law can now openly and shamelessly participate in recreational use. 

A recent article in the Staten Island Advance newspaper started with a seemingly random Billy Joel reference: “A bottle of red. A baggie of weed.” As New York state moves ever closer to legalizing adult-use marijuana, this scene from a cannabis-infused Italian restaurant represents a more modern New York state of mind, indeed. But what follows this tongue-in-cheek lede is a disturbing trend we’re starting to see more and more as the commercial cannabis industry continues to expand.

The year 2018 is almost at an end, and with that comes the question of what will happen this year’s breakout sector: marijuana.

Marijuana stocks dominated the financial headlines this year to such an extent that it’s hard to even think of a contender for second place. That’s not to say that cannabis stocks have had a uniformly great run. Some, such as Aphria Inc, are actually down year-to-date. But the sector gave us the biggest rally of the year–short lived though it was–and received by far the most media coverage of any group of TSX stocks.

After cannabis shone so brilliantly this year, it’s natural to have high hopes for the next. But are such hopes justified? It helps to start by looking at how cannabis stocks are doing now.

The maker of Marlboro cigarettes is joining some of the biggest names in beer in exploring the budding cannabis marketplace.

Altria Group Inc., which owns Philip Morris USA, is the latest big company to show interest in marijuana. Late Monday, Canadian medical marijuana company Cronos Group Inc. confirmed talks with Altria about a possible investment.

Altria, based in Richmond, Virginia, is one of the largest cigarette makers in the United States. The company said it had no comment on Cronos’ announcement.

The marijuana industry has had a year like no other before it. In October, Canada became the first industrialized country in the world to legalize recreational cannabis. Then, during midterm elections in November, two more states joined the previous 30 in approving medical marijuana. Not to mention, voters in Michigan approved a recreational pot proposal making the Great Lakes State the 10th overall to have legalized weed use for adults.

The current cannabis shortage could be stabilized by the spring of 2019, but it could eventually be replaced by a flood of product on the market that will then lead to lower prices and consolidation, say lawyers representing clients in the sector.

This has been a truly game-changing year for the cannabis industry.

The big event, as you're probably aware by now, was the legalization of recreational marijuana in Canada on Oct. 17. Following years of promises to do so from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and months of debate in the Senate, the passage of the Cannabis Act in June paved the way for the lifting of nine decades of recreational cannabis prohibition in our neighbor to the north. When the industry is running on all cylinders by the early part of the next decade, it should be generating around $5 billion in added annual sales.