Marco Rubio is still fighting the war on weed.

The Republican presidential primaries kicked off with an almost comically large pool of candidates, but following the Iowa caucuses, three men stand as top contenders: Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

None of these men can be considered progressive in the drug policy arena (well, Trump used to be). However Marco Rubio stands out as particularly threatening to cannabis reform.

A new report titled ‘The State of Legal Marijuana Markets’, published earlier this week, projects a rapid rise in the value of regulated cannabis markets in the US for 2016.

Just how big is the market for legal pot?

A new report by a leading marijuana industry investment and research firm found legal cannabis sales jumped 17%, to $5.4 billion, in 2015 and they will grow by a whopping 25% this year to reach $6.7 billion in total U.S. sales.

Fortune magazine, quoted above, have published a summary of the report, the 4th edition of findings by cannabis economists ArcView Market Research.

The legal sales of pot will reach $21.8 billion in 2020, up from $5.4 billion last year. The legalization of marijuana has and will spread rapidly from state to state.

The data from a new report titled "The State of Legal Marijuana Markets" explain that part of the forecast has as a foundation the sales in Colorado and Washington, where pot use for medical and recreational use is already legal. The research shows that the rise will be rapid year by year:

Demand is expected to remain strong in 2016 with legal markets projected to grow to $6.7 billion, a 24% increase over 2015

The huge majority of the rise in sales will be due to recreational use, which was only 8% of the market in 2014 but is anticipated to be 53% in 2020.

Oregonians can consume legal weed without emptying their wallets.

The Beaver State is home to the lowest average price of dispensary cannabis at $214 an ounce, according to an analysis by Perfect Price, a company that tracks the prices of a variety of goods including groceries, cleaning supplies and cannabis. The company looked at menu prices for cannabis flowers from about 6,000 dispensaries in six states with more than 200 dispensaries: Oregon, Colorado, Washington, Arizona, California and Michigan.

Marley Natural, the New York marijuana startup funded with Silicon Valley money, has come out with a line of weed strains branded in the name of late reggae icon and vehement anti-capitalist Bob Marley. The four types of cannabis will be available in some California dispensaries today, before expanding to the four other US states where marijuana has been decriminalized. The company has also launched a line of natural beauty products and smoking accessories that will be sold nationwide.

Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley joined with Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici Thursday to introduce a bill that would allow publications in Oregon and other states where marijuana is legal to mail their publications containing written advertising for the product.

The Marijuana Advertising in Legal States (MAILS) Act would reverse the outdated declaration by the U.S. Postal Service in December 2015 that prohibited the mailing of newspapers with ads offering to buy or sell marijuana, even if the marijuana-related ad complies with state law.

The use of cannabis in the treatment of cancer is an emerging field in medicine. By staying up to date on the research and collaborating with other leaders in the field, physicians like my colleagues and myself can continue to meet the needs of real patients who choose not to wait for the federal government to stop obstructing human research on cannabis and cancer. Medical cannabis can be a part of an integrative plan that addresses your mind, body, spirit, family, and community.

The global tide concerning marijuana legalization is slowly turning. Amsterdam, with its famous coffeeshops where smoking cannabis is OK, was once the international city most associated with legally smoking marijuana. But more countries are passing legislation either decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana in some form. In fact, almost half the states in the United States have legalized marijuana somehow — with more likely to follow suit. 

As more than 20 U.S. states have already legalized cannabis, the marijuana industry has seen a major boost, with sales rising to $5.4 billion in 2015 as compared to $4.6 billion in 2014. The data has been provided in a report released by the ArcView Group on Monday.

Recreational marijuana regularization has been a major kick for the pot industry as sales for adults using pot was $998 million for 2015 as compared to $351 million a year prior. Overall, sales for adult-use drug saw an 184% rise in just one year. For 2016, the research firm has estimated a 25% growth in sales to around $6.7 billion.

The start-up world can expect to see a different kind of green in the next few years if the marijuana business grows as rapidly as some expect.

Legal marijuana sales grew to $5.4 billion in 2015, up from $4.6 billion in the prior year, and sales are expected to grow by 25 percent to about $6.7 billion this year, according to research firm Arcview's latest marijuana market report.