In 2016, the legal use of marijuana in the United States has been a widespread talk. Many American states have allowed the recreational and medical use of cannabis. But should you start to take part in the industry?

Benzinga looked at the top predictions of experts for the cannabis market in 2017. While there are now 33 states that allow the use of medical marijuana, Alan Brochstein, founding partner at New Cannabis Ventures and founder at 420 Investor, expect that the federal government would retain its status quo when it comes to cannabis policy.

No one in the new administration, not even President-elect Donald Trump, has mentioned any marijuana initiatives during the campaign until today. So industry experts predict that the government would leave the regulatory and enforcement policies to individual states.

Meanwhile, analysts of Viridian Capital Advisors predict further maturity among the established cannabis market in terms of regulations that would make the markets more successful. On one hand, major banks in the U.S. would likely play it safe. "[The] large banks and financial services companies will use the greater business transparency that comes when states create their legal markets to discover (and close) unapproved cannabis business accounts," CanPay CEO Dustin Eide said, per Benzinga.

Other predictions from the cannabis include a cannabinoid-based therapeutic getting through FDA, marijuana being considered a better alternative than opioids, and "cannabis" not having a bad connotation anymore.

The opportunities in legal marijuana sector are currently in favor of small businesses and startups. Because of national prohibitions, big companies could not yet dive in into the market, which is quite a good time for SMEs and new ventures to take advantage.

However, Small Business Trends advises entrepreneurs to do their homework first before venturing into the cannabis market. It is imperative to know the laws of the state where you are planning to establish the business to ensure that you are doing things right.