The line of people outside Blüm Reno extended around the building's front and partially down its side.

About 65 customers stood at 8:45 a.m. Saturday outside the South Virginia Street marijuana dispensary, waiting for the front door to open. No longer restricted to medicinal cannabis only, the dispensary had opened at midnight that day — the exact first moment it could legally sell recreational cannabis under Nevada law. It remained open for about six hours and closed briefly before again opening at 9 a.m.

Some customers, eager for the first chance to buy recreational cannabis, shouted out how many minutes remained until opening. Fifteen, then nine, then five.

The underlying intention of its legalization policies is to take business away from the contintent’s deadly narco businesses.

Uruguay’s bid to allow the sale of recreational marijuana in pharmacies, under its revolutionary law that fully legalized the production, sale and consumption of marijuana in 2013, is due to come into force this month.

Becoming the first country in the world to uphold such drug policies, Uruguay’s intentions, tabled under the leadership of leftist guerrilla-turned-former President Jose Mujica, is to take business away from the contintent’s deadly narco businesses.

Marijuana stocks have soared as state after state in the U.S. has legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use. The market potential is huge, with some estimating that the marijuana industry in the U.S. could generate sales of more than $18 billion by 2020.

But focusing only on the U.S. is nearsighted -- literally. There are significant opportunities for investors looking to profit from the expanding marijuana industry in other countries. Here are several important areas across the world with growing marijuana markets along with some of the marijuana stocks that could benefit from that growth.  

July 1 brings Canada Day, an annual celebration of national unity. This year, it’s also an important milestone: As of today, Canada is exactly one year away from being only the second country on Earth to fully legalize cannabis for adult use. (Thanks for stealing our thunder, Uruguay.) It’s an exciting time to be alive—how often do you get to see federal prohibition repealed?—and the change carries huge ramifications for the legal, medical, financial, and political spheres. Here are six things to watch for as the 12-month countdown plays out.

1. Canadian Celebrities Jumping on the Canna-Bandwagon

The government of Catalonia has legalised marijuana, making the autonomous Spanish region the latest part of the world to loosen restrictions on use of the drug.

The cultivation, consumption and distribution of cannabis will be permitted for members of designated clubs after the region's parliament voted to regulate them.

It follows a campaign which gathered 67,500 petition signatures, forcing a government debate.

Earlier this month on The Tonight Show, Miley Cyrus told host Jimmy Fallon that she’d quit using marijuana because she had a dream “that I would die during my monologue on SNL for some reason, just get so stoned that I just died.”

Bill Panagiotakopoulos was surveying construction on his gated property outside Hamilton when he got the call he had been dreaming about for years: his company, Beleave Inc., was officially Canada’s 44th licensed marijuana producer.

The entrepreneur debated whether to answer the call from an unknown number that fateful mid-May afternoon, but as soon as he heard he was on a conference call with Health Canada representatives, he broke into a run, frantically searching for a quiet place to talk.

Panagiotakopoulos jumped into his truck just in time to hear the news: Beleave had the green light to grow pot.

The bill that would have legalized recreational marijuana in Vermont has gone up in smoke, but legislators are saying: Wait until next year.

S.22, the Senate bill that would have allowed adults 21 and older to have up to 1 ounce of marijuana and to grow up to two mature plants and four immature plants on private property, would have taken effect in July.

Vermont legislators hoped a veto session that wrapped up last Wednesday would result in a path forward for the bill, the final draft of which included some of the compromises requested by Gov. Phil Scott, such as tougher penalties for underage smokers and those smoking around young children.