Marijuana is easily one of the world's most controversial plants and, in the U.S., has endured a particularly rocky history.

While smoking marijuana was once viewed as an act of political dissidence against the Vietnam War, today the plant is recognized as an invaluable medicine and smoking-hot commodity that's generated billions of dollars in revenue in states where it is now fully legalized.

Marijuana had an incredible 2016, and the hope for pro-legalization enthusiasts is that momentum will continue to carry into 2017 and beyond.

As it currently stands, just 21 years after California became the first state to legalize cannabis for medical purposes, 28 states have now legalized medicinal pot, while residents in eight states have voted in favor of legalizing recreational, adult-use weed. In fact, in the November elections eight out of nine cannabis initiatives/amendments passed, with the lone failure being Arizona, which saw its recreational marijuana initiative fail by just 2%.

Despite well-founded fear in the cannabis culture about the nation’s new president, Donald Trump is unlikely to go after state-level cannabis laws.

Instead, we believe that the Trump Administration will take a hands-off, allow-the-states-to-decide approach that will allow things to continue, for the most part, as they have the past several years.

Here’s a few reasons why: First off, politics

For whatever you may think of Donald Trump, he knows how to play politics. No one can win the presidency if they don’t.

The marijuana industry is red hot, and it has the rapidly changing views of the public to thank.

In 1995, just prior to California becoming the first state to legalize medical cannabis for compassionate use, only 25% of respondents in Gallup's national poll wanted to see pot legalized nationally. That was essentially unchanged since 1980. However, since 1995 we've seen a steady uptick in support for weed. By 2005, 36% approved of its nationwide legalization. In 2011, marijuana's approval hit 50% for the first time ever. Finally, in 2016 it topped 60%, logging an all-time high. It's this rapid shift of opinion that's allowed marijuana to expand so quickly at the state level.

In just 12 months, shares of GW Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: GWPH) have shot up 125%. Over the past five years, the market cap of the cannabinoid-focused biotech has increased by well over 1,100%. Is GW Pharmaceuticals still a good pick for investors -- or is this hot marijuana stock just too expensive to buy right now?

Over-hyped?

Some would argue that the prospects for GW Pharmaceuticals are over-hyped. What they really mean is that the prospects for the company's lead cannabinoid candidate Epidiolex are over-hyped. GW's fortunes depend on the experimental drug.

Taxes on marijuana? There is a lot of money being made in this world already on the taxation of cannabis. There are nations like Uruguay and Israel taking a new approach on the substance and bucking the status quo on marijuana policy in their country. Many states have legalized medical marijuana in America, and many more will follow in the coming months and years.

This interesting graphic from Turbotax shows just how prevalent the cash is from taxes. In the end, the US spends 12 billion prosecuting marijuana crimes, which is a real shame. Hopefully the feds will move, but with the new administration, we aren’t holding our breath.

In the last week we've heard from NBA legend Phil Jackson and Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr talking about their own marijuana use and how they think professional sports leagues like the NBA and NFL should change their marijuana policies.

Marijuana should not be a banned substance in professional sports.

Marijuana is legal for medical use in 28 states and recreational use in 8 states plus Washington D.C., yet it is a banned substance in most professional sports and athletes are not allowed to use it. It is time for the sports world to catch up with the times and adopt more rational marijuana policies.

Almost since the moment of its founding, Women Grow has been one of the cannabis industry’s most important and powerful business networking organizations. Three years ago the group started with a handful of entrepreneurs in Denver. Now more than 1,500 members meet in 35 cities on the first Thursday of every month.

After a year of covering presidential debates and political conventions, the “Bad Lip Reading” video series just uncovered its best target yet: Donald Trump’s inauguration.

While those previous events did not explicitly require lip reading, this one did. That’s because throughout the day, viewers were treated to private-in-public scenes between the outgoing and incoming administrations without the benefit of hearing what they were actually saying to each other.

What happened

A month after former key executives were arrested for an alleged kickback scheme, and in the wake of its presentation to investors at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Jan. 9, shares in Insys Therapeutics (NASDAQ:INSY) climbed 11.3% in January, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

So what

Insys Therapeutics has been on the hot seat for more than a year, and ongoing investigations into marketing practices of its opioid spray Subsys resulted in the arrest of former CEO Michael Babich and other executives on Dec. 8, 2016.