In 2016, the 420 front was one of few sectors growing by leaps and bounds. Last year may have been the biggest ever for marijuana reform, with three additional states giving the nod to medical pot and four to recreational use.

Cannabis research firm The ArcView Group predicts a staggering $22 billion in legal marijuana sales by 2020. Unwilling to let grass grow under their feet, tech giants are prepared to spend big for a place in the race to become the Google of cannabis.

Massachusetts continues the 115-year-old tradition of restricting marijuana sales, despite the passing of a ballot initiative in November. The Massachusetts House and Senate passed a bill Dec. 28 in less than half an hour that will push back the timetable for the opening of retail marijuana stores by six months to July 1, 2018.

Marijuana had an incredible 2016, and the fast-growing pot industry is looking to continue building on that momentum in 2017.

After beginning 2016 with cannabis legal in 23 states for medical purposes, and four states for adult use, the year closed with 28 states having legalized medical marijuana and residents in eight states having legalized recreational weed. Most notably, legislatures in Pennsylvania and Ohio passed medical marijuana laws without bringing votes to the people, while residents in California overwhelmingly passed Prop 64 (recreational legalization), which could add $1 billion, or more, in annual tax and licensing revenue to the state.

Willie Nelson took to social media to show off some new threads gifted to him by fellow marijuana enthusiast Snoop Dogg. The singer posted an image to Facebook of himself proudly wearing an ugly Christmas sweater emblazoned with (what else?) a pot leaf decorated like a Christmas tree and the words “Smoke Weed Everyday.” Clearly a message Nelson can get behind.

“Thank you Snoop Dogg for the Christmas sweater,” the singer wrote succinctly. Snoop then shared the image on his own Instagram page.

The year 2016 was a big one for marijuana in the United States. Several states passed new legislation allowing legal use of cannabis in some capacity and states that were already approved for legal pot use saw huge dividends from marijuana sales. In fact, the industry as a whole generated more than $6.7 billion in marijuana sales, according to a Tuesday Forbes report.

At the inauguration in a few weeks, not only will President-elect Donald Trump supporters be high on life, they might literally be high. According to CNN, marijuana legalization advocate Adam Eidinger will be joined by his peers on Jan. 20 in doling out 4,200 free joints to attendees. Currently, Initiative 71 means that Mary Jane is legal in Washington, DC, for anyone to carry up to two ounces. The catch? The drug can only be gifted, it can’t be sold.

The local weed guy likely has about 2 years before they need to either go legit, or seriously consider a career change.

What?!

Yes. Don’t look for any kind of wide-ranging retail access to cannabis for non-medical users much before the end of 2018. It’s simple math.

Our brightest stop yet on the long slow road to recreational legalization in Canada! Legal weed is coming to Canada and its shape is becoming clearer through the haze of uncertainty.

In early December, 2016 the government of Canada released the final report from its task force on Cannabis legalization and regulation, A Framework for the Legalization and Regulation of Cannabis in Canada, to a bustling press conference and a lot of fanfare.

It’s difficult to predict what the next four years will look like for cannabis users. While President-elect Trump has made a number of contradictory statements on the subject of legalization, his pick for Attorney General, Sen. Jeff Sessions, holds some radical viewpoints, once claiming, “Good people don’t smoke marijuana.”

hen the clocks struck midnight on New Year’s Eve they not only marked the arrival of 2017 but also sounded the death knell for the oldest coffeeshop in Amsterdam, Mellow Yellow, which has closed after half a century in business.

While the rest of the Dutch capital ushered in the new year with fizz and fireworks, Mellow Yellow’s owner, Johnny Petram, fought back tears as he pulled the shutters down on his cannabis cafe for the last time.

“I tried to make the best of it but it was the worst day of my life,” he said. “Mellow Yellow was the oldest coffeeshop in Amsterdam and now it’s gone.”