Green rush fever is back, once again. Following a roughly six-month lull, investors can't seem to get enough of marijuana stocks, as evidenced by the more than tripling in the North American Marijuana Index over the trailing year.

In a little more than three weeks, Canada is set to make history by becoming the first industrialized country in the world to legalize recreational marijuana. This big step, which will occur on Oct. 17, should result in billions of dollars flowing into the legal Canadian weed industry, and perhaps make investors in marijuana stocks a pretty (green) penny.

Canadian veterinarians are pushing for warning labels on marijuana to tell owners it can be toxic to pets, as the Oct. 17 legalization approaches.

The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association has been asking the federal government to require the warning labels since it sent a letter to Health Canada last January outlining its concern. Representatives have continued to meet with departmental officials to pursue the subject.

Hemp is a plant in the cannabis family with very low THC content. In 1998, the Canadian government began to allow processing, harvesting and selling hemp—under a restrictive protocol. Soon, hemp-centric companies began utilizing the plant in food, textiles, fabrics, and oils, touting its versatility, eco-friendliness, and health effects.

Winnipeg-based Manitoba Harvest started that year, and is now the largest manufacturer in the world to grow, produce and sell hemp food products that have slowly trickled into Canadian pantries. “The benefits of hemp have been a little-known secret for hundreds of years, but it’s finally gaining traction as a food ingredient on an international level,” said Clarence Shwaluk, the company’s director of farm operations.

Near the hometown of the late Colombian kingpin Pablo Escobar, a growing number of Canadians are seeking their fortunes in the international drug trade.

Today, however, they're doing it legally.  

At least seven licensed Canadian cannabis producers have set up shop in Colombia, investing more than $100 million in the conflict-hit country that has become a new frontier in the legal marijuana business, according to a review of company filings. "We understand the pain of the war on drugs. That war was here," said Bibiana Rojas, managing director of Spectrum Cannabis Colombia, a subsidiary of Canopy Growth, one of Canada's largest marijuana firms.

In less than a month, Canada will become only the second country in the world and the first G-7 nation to bring marijuana prohibition to an end, legalizing cannabis for recreational use.

The move comes at a time when major corporations such as Constellation Brands are deepening investments in the space, cannabis stocks are seeing major volatility, and talk of a bubble is brewing.

Last week’s wild ride for pot stocks, which saw shares of B.C.-based marijuana company Tilray Inc. fly above US$250 apiece at one point, before closing Friday at US$123, underlined that it is no longer just Canadian retail investors seeking exposure to the cannabis sector.

Lately, those shares of Canadian-based cannabis producers are increasingly finding a home in the portfolios of three other kinds of investors: American, institutional and unwitting, possibly.

“In meteoric fashion, some of the now-large cannabis companies have graduated from the (TSX Venture Exchange) to the (Toronto Stock Exchange), and in some cases the S&P/TSX Composite Index,” said the recently released 2018 proxy season review from Kingsdale Advisors.

Coca-Cola is the latest major corporation to make a move into the cannabis industry. Expect more in the coming years.

You'll soon be able to legally buy and consume cannabis in Manitoba — but there are plenty of rules to dictate exactly how you can do that.

On Oct. 17, Canada will become the first country in the G7 to legalize cannabis on a national level.

But it won't be a free-for-all: Ottawa and all the provinces will still enforce rules on its use, and those rules will differ from province to province. Here's what we know so far about how it's going to work in Manitoba.

Using it

To start with, Manitobans who want to use cannabis have to be 19 or older.

You've probably seen the incredible gains racked up by some of the largest Canadian marijuana stocks in recent weeks. The market caps of several of these stocks are now so great that even investors with the most optimistic views about the prospects for the cannabis industry are leery of buying.

But I think that there still are quite a few good picks that can reward investors over the long run from the cannabis boom without paying through the nose. You just need to focus on companies on which the spotlights haven't burned so brightly.