Marijuana stocks are going crazy ahead of elections that could transform their industry

Nine states will vote in November on whether to legalize medical or recreational marijuana, or both.

Leading up to the elections, the industry's penny stocks are trading like most states will say "yes."

Shares of marijuana firms that trade over-the-counter - not via central exchanges like Nasdaq - are rallying in the run up to the votes. 

Companies in the industry struggle to get approved to list on the major exchanges partly because marijuana is still illegal under federal law. 

Here's General Cannabis Corp., which leases space for companies to grow the plant:

And here's Cannabis Sativa, which had Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson as its CEO until January when he resigned. It has a subsidiary that makes moisturizers and lip balm:

Here's United Cannabis Corp., a provider of medical-cannabis treatments:

There are a number of other marijuana penny stocks - priced below $5 a share - with run ups like these which very speculative in nature. Briefing Trader shared the following set of charts on Twitter:

The results of the votes next month could be a huge deal for the industry. California's vote is considered the most crucial given the state's size; its economic output in 2015 made it the sixth largest economy in the world, ahead of countries like France.

Earlier in October, Pew Research published poll results which showed 57% of US adults say marijuana use should be legalized. A decade ago, just 32% were in favor of legislation. 

The best companies would stand to profit even more in the industry that's projected to grow to nearly $8 billion by 2020, according to Arcview and its big-data partner New Frontier.

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