The Canadian cannabis industry is still reeling from sky-high demand in the second week of legalization, with growers expressing frustration at the length of time it’s taking to get licensed as shelves sit empty.

“We’re biting our nails and I think our shareholders are biting their nails too,” said Anthony Durkacz, director at FSD Pharma Inc., an Ontario-based producer that received its cultivation license a year ago and is still waiting for its sales license. “We want to be supplying.”

Are marijuana stocks simply too risky to buy? The correct answer is: It depends. 

Different investors have different financial goals. More important, different investors have different risk tolerances. Conservative investors probably won't find much to like with most marijuana stocks because of their high risk levels and volatility. However, aggressive investors might be comfortable buying some marijuana stocks.

Regardless of what type of investor you are, understanding the risks of any stock before you buy it is critical. What are the risks of investing in marijuana stocks? Here's what you need to know before buying.

Interest from alcohol giants like Constellation Brands Inc. and Molson Coors Brewing Co. has made cannabis-infused beverages the most talked-about product in the pot industry, but there's one widely acknowledged problem: They taste awful.

A tiny Canadian company thinks it's found a solution. Instead of infusing a drink with cannabinoids like THC or CBD, then masking the oily, bitter concoction with sugar as many beverage makers do in the U.S., Province Brands of Canada is developing beer brewed from the cannabis plant.

Tourists thinking of enhancing a boat ride across Waterton Lake with some recreational marijuana next summer better be aware of two things.

First, while Canada has legalized cannabis for general use it remains illegal to take it across the U.S. international border. And second, tour boats sailing out of Waterton Lakes National Park and into Glacier National Park don’t allow smoking of anything onboard, from tobacco to weed.

“We did not do this to become the world of partying for people who like cannabis,” Canadian Consul General Stephane Lessard said in an interview with the Missoulian. “People should be responsible. It’s like responsible drinking. Use common sense. Stay within the law.”

Big Canadian marijuana stocks have taken a beating. Aurora Cannabis (NYSE:ACB) got off to a horrible start during its first week of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Canopy Growth (NYSE:CGC) lost over 25% of its market cap in just the last week.

But there's one new marijuana stock that has weathered the storm pretty well. In fact, its performance is trouncing Aurora, Canopy, and nearly every other marijuana stock so far this year.

The executive director of the NHL Alumni Association says he’s “all-in” when it comes to finding out if cannabis will be able to one day replace opioid-based painkillers.

Speaking at an event earlier this week, Glenn Healy said he’s spent the past 10 months investigating whether marijuana, which became legal in Canada on Oct. 17, can help former players.

But Healy cautioned the alumni association isn’t there yet.

There has been a lot happening in the cannabis space over the past week: Canada legalized the recreational use of the drug federally and the sales from the first day turned out to be great. However, this same period has seen some cannabis stocks plummet in price, bringing to question the reason for this. Generally, share prices are associated with the expected future gains from a stock. For shares to plummet, the expected future gains are either lower than expected or the expected future losses are expected to rise.

Support for legalizing marijuana has reached an all-time high in America, where total demand is estimated at roughly $50 billion annually. In a Gallup poll conducted a week before Canada became the second country in the world to permit recreational cannabis sales, two-thirds of Americans were in favor of similar legislation at home that could send legal cannabis sales soaring.

Canopy Growth (TSX:WEED)(NYSE:CGC) and other pot stocks have been tumbling recently. The popular cannabis stock has fallen hard recently, dropping close to 20% over the past month to under $50 as of yesterday’s close, which is well off the more than $70 it was trading at just weeks ago.

The big question for investors is whether this is part of a bigger sell-off of cannabis stocks, or if this is just a bump in the road, not unlike what we’ve seen earlier this year.

According to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc., the global legal marijuana market is expected to reach $146.4 billion by end of 2025. Increased adoption of cannabis from medical and recreational perspectives has helped boost interest in the drug. High public and private investment for things like R&D in many countries as well ascreation of new forms of ingesting cannabishave shed more light on the potential of this drug.