In 2012 Colorado and Washington state became the first to choose to legalize the recreational use of marijuana for people who were 21 and older. Some people felt like this was the end of the start of the downfall of the US, while others raved that it was about time states figured out how to monetize an unbeatable war on pot.

In 2014 Maryland joined them along with countless other states who have recently made medical marijuana legal. This has created a whole new category of entrepreneur. One who can freely grow, sell and dispense the drug in a public manner while producing a public profit. The surge in new pot related business has rivaled that of the Gold rush. There have even been some companies that have made it public in hopes of getting public funding to continue to grow their business. Today we will talk about a few public companies and how they hope to profit from the marijuana boom in the states.

First up is a name that you have likely heard of, just in a different sector. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (SMG  ) is most well-known for the manufacturing, marketing, and selling of their long line of consumer lawn and garden products worldwide. You cant go to a home improvement store and not see their products everywhere. Well the CEO is on record as believing that the legal marijuana industry is the biggest thing to ever happen to the lawn gardening industry. He projects over a billion dollar opportunity for his company. So what did he do about it? The company spent $136 million for Gavita, a Dutch grow lighting and hardware company, and almost simultaneously made a deal to buy Arizona-based Botanicare, a plant nutrient and hydroponics products provider that only had about $40 million in sales. The company also invested heavily in Boulder's AeroGrow indoor gardening company. In addition, the company bought out California's General Hydroponics last year for $130 million. As far as the stock price it has performed well along with the market but if your looking for a company that isn't only exposed to marijuana then this may be your bet.

Next up is the Facebook of pot, MassRoots, Inc (MSRT  ). Now I should warn you that this is a penny stock at this point and would be considered highly speculative. MassRoots is one of the largest and most active technology platforms for cannabis consumers, businesses and activists with almost 1 million registered users. Now the company has been looking at ways to produce a profit, mainly by targeting advertisers in the cannabis space that would not normally be allowed to advertise on other mediums like Facebook (FB  ), or Google (GOOGL  ).

Lastly we have a recent IPO, Innovative Industrial Properties (IIPR  ) which focuses on buying medical marijuana-related facilities and leases them. The company went public back on December first at $20 a share and as of this writing has been trading in the $18-19 range.