It's 4/20 folks, and for those of you who don't know what that is - it's code for cannabis, marijuana, pot, smoke or whatever else you want to call it. Who would have thought when "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" hit the theatres in 1982 - giving Sean Penn his first crack at stardom - that 35 years later we'd be talking about stock market investment opportunities in the same drug we watched Jeff Spicoli pile out of his van wreaking of and coughing. Whether you agree or not, things do change and there's absolutely not a single soul out there who can argue the growth of the cannabis space in recent years. Currently there are 25 states with some form of legalized medical marijuana and seven states that have legalized recreational marijuana laws that are in various stages of being implemented. Canada has already legalized it for medicinal purposes - and is projected to approve it for recreational use over the next few years. With that comes a budding new industry that reminds some of the gold rush, the alcohol prohibition or some semblance of a combination thereof. As a matter of fact, Forbes recently published a report projecting marijuana jobs will outpace that of the entire manufacturing industry by the year 2020. How's that for a jaw dropping statistic? In a recent report from New Frontier Data, it is projected that by 2020 the legal cannabis market will create more than a quarter of a million jobs. This is more than the expected jobs from manufacturing, utilities or even government jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS says that by 2024 manufacturing jobs are expected to decline by 814,000, utilities will lose 47,000 jobs and government jobs will decline by 383,000. This dovetails with data that suggests the fastest-growing industries are all healthcare related. The legal cannabis market was worth an estimated $7.2 billion in 2016 and is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 17%. Medical marijuana sales are projected to grow from $4.7 billion in 2016 to $13.3 billion in 2020. Adult recreational sales are estimated to jump from $2.6 billion in 2016 to $11.2 billion by 2020. New Frontier bases these projections on the markets that have already passed such legal initiatives and don't include additional states that could come on board by 2020. So, as everyone can clearly identify - whether you are for or against legalization in some or all of its current stages - there's definitely no arguing the financial opportunity the cannabis space is currently offering early-stage investors right now. And one of those opportunities took advantage of the 4/20 PR media blitz today by announcing some pretty compelling information regarding cannabinoid therapy and the impact it recently had on a 13-year-old patient. Prior to the open this morning, one of our long time featured stocks, Vitality Biopharma, Inc. (OTCQB: VBIO) announced the release of one of the first clinical reports detailing the ability of cannabinoid therapy to induce remission in a pediatric inflammatory bowel disease patient. The report is a case study titled, "Induction of Remission in Drug-Resistant Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease with Cannabinoid Therapy," and describes a 13-year-old boy with drug-resistant Crohn's disease and colitis who achieved clinical remission after oral administration of cannabinoids. Independently from the Company, the patient received treatment with medical cannabis pursuant to the State of California's Compassionate Use Act. The case study describes how the patient's disease could not be controlled by currently-approved pharmaceuticals, and how cannabinoid treatment led to near-immediate clinical improvement that was indicative of disease remission. The report by Vitality Biopharma and its collaborators is a preprint scientific manuscript that has not yet been subjected to peer review, and additional case reports may be included prior to formal publication. The full report can be accessed here: vitality.bio/research/pediatric-IBD-case-study/. Clinical trials in IBD patients have previously shown that use of cannabis is associated with substantial symptomatic relief, and placebo-controlled trials have confirmed significant declines in disease activity score after treatment. However, these trials largely relied on subjective outcome measures. The case study detailed by Vitality Biopharma and its collaborators is one of the first where multiple objective measures of disease outcome were reported. This included analysis of fecal calprotectin levels, which increase when lesions or tears in the intestinal tract are present, and decrease when healing of the gut mucosal lining occurs. The case study results provide objective evidence that cannabinoids may not only resolve symptoms of IBD, but also modify disease through reduction of gut inflammation. At this point, it's clearly been a bit of a cannabis free-for-all when it comes to stocks and the potential opportunities some are offering investors. There's no doubt though every last one of them has had their highs and their lows - which brings me to one more very common rule when it comes to trading any penny stock. I've said it before and I'll say it again - the best time to buy a penny stock is when either nobody wants it or the stock has gone to sleep for a while. Considering Vitality Biopharma, Inc. (OTCQB: VBIO) has a six month trading range of $.77 to as much as $4.25, its current trading price of $1.96 - coupled with its sleepy price pattern of late - sure looks like it's another one of those coulda shoulda woulda's at some point down the road.