A lot has happened in the Green Rush this year! Read on for some recent history before you dive in.

1) The Bandwagon

There are now more cannabis stocks than you can shake a stick at. What had previously been a club of about a dozen has now ballooned to literally hundreds of stocks, all claiming some stake in legal cannabis. Don’t be fooled, many of these companies couldn’t tell you the difference between a bong and a blunt, let alone make any meaningful profit in the cannabis market. Read more: Top 4 Signs That Stock is a Scam.

2) The SEC reminded us that it runs Barter Town

The spring brought cannabis investors back down to reality, but the natural retracement was augmented by SEC trading halts on some sector favorites. Investors who entered the sector in February and March did not have a good experience, to say the least, and many are still holding losses. Though data suggests the sector is about to trend upwards again, so long as Master Blaster agrees, of course.  Read more: 5 Signs Another Pot Stock Boom is Coming.

3) Flight to Investment Groups

Upon collectively realizing the cannabis stock market will, for now, remain adrift in the merciless seas of the Pink Sheets, many have taken shelter in paid investment groups. The prolific  #Wolfpack has taken refuge at the WolfofWeedStreet.com. Alan Brochstein’s 420Investor has done a great job educating investors, Claytrader’s Inner Circle continues to grow, as does 94Twenty’s Social Investment Site. There are literally dozens of others, some catering exclusively to the cannabis sector, others branching out into other territory. Do research before giving anyone your money, as each of these groups has a different culture and can help you grow as a trader in different ways.

Twitter remains critical for information sharing, though it can be difficult to see through the hype and hate being hawked by paid stock promoters and bashers. Anticipate Twitter use in stock promotion (and really all commercial activities) to only grow.

4) Bigger money

Warren Buffet and numerous other larger-than-life financial players have started making moves, mostly privately, to capitalize on the growing marijuana economy. This is good news, as it helps to validate investments in the industry and will bring more and more people/money/attention to the sector.

Additionally, investors that are skeptical of publicly traded companies now have substantial private investment opportunities in states with legal cannabis. Oregon Marijuana Farm, for instance, is already receiving substantial investment attention ahead of Oregon’s legalization vote.

5) Strong, sustained legalization momentum.

There has never been as much public approval of legalization as there is right now. Check out these demographics:

“There are big differences on age, region, party ID, and gender, with senior citizens, Republicans, and Southerners the only major demographic groups who still oppose the legal use of pot,” said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. Two-thirds of those 18 to 34 said marijuana should be legal, with 64% of those 34 to 49 in agreement. Half of those 50 to 64 believe marijuana should be legal, but that number dropped to 39% for those age 65 and older.”

In fact, it seems like cannabis legalization is the only thing Republicans and Democrats can even come close to agreeing on. In the face of state budget shortfalls, many Republicans that are typically  the party-pooper type have looked to cannabis taxation as a great revenue generator. And even Republican presidential hopefuls have been open to the idea of legalization.

It helps that Colorado’s legalization model has been resoundingly successful, as we discuss in our previous post. The way forward is clear, and the number of states with some sort of legal cannabis initiative continues to mount. If 2014 marked the start of the Green Rush, 2015 is going to be the year historians point to as a Green Revolution.

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