The rapidly growing marijuana industry — legal to some degree in much of the country — is providing a still-small but potentially fertile bed of opportunity for companies in Wisconsin and other states where the drug remains outlawed.

A few firms here have actively positioned themselves as suppliers to pot growers and processors, viewing the sector as a logical extension of markets they already serve.

And some are selling to marijuana companies — hundreds have sprouted in states such as Colorado and Washington — but don't want to speak publicly about it.

As we enter what could arguably be described as marijuana's most important year, the vast majority of momentum behind this currently illicit drug remains positive.

Marijuana's undeniable momentum
Over a two-decade span, nearly two dozen states have legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, providing a new treatment pathway to alleviate symptoms associated with certain types of cancers and glaucoma. The list of diseases marijuana can be prescribed for varies from state to state, but terminal cancers and glaucoma are among the most consistent ailments medical marijuana is approved to treat.

ALBANY -- New York plans to have its medical marijuana program operating in early January.

There’s just one glaring omission: The state Department of Health hasn’t released a list of doctors who are registered to write medical-marijuana prescriptions.

“It’s a real problem,” said Julie Netherland, deputy state director for the Drug Policy Alliance, an advocacy group. “We get calls from patients every day wanting to know how they can get a physician to help them, and in the absence of any kind of public list, there’s nothing we can do to assist.”

The health department on Dec. 23 launched its system for severely ill patients to enroll in its medical marijuana program, which will provide the drug in non-smokeable forms.

A New York company is preparing to market what it says is the world’s first kosher-certified marijuana.

The Orthodox Union has certified Vireo Health of New York’s non-smokable medical marijuana products, Vireo announced in a news release Wednesday. Vireo is one of five medical marijuana providers selected to participate in a New York state medical marijuana program that goes into effect next month; none of the others will be certified kosher.

With marijuana now legal in some form throughout 23 states, the number of Americans who fatally overdosed on the drug last year was significant: 

It is still way too early to put any serious money behind the fast-growing marijuana industries, but the potential is certainly there, and worth watching.

“Right now it's a basically a penny-stock industry in its infancy, but it will grow geometrically unless the federal government decides to enforce federal laws,” said Paul Schatz, president of Heritage Capital.

So far, 40 states have legalized the use of medical marijuana in some form, and four states have legalized marijuana for recreational use. But those state laws are still in technical violation of federal laws, which deem most marijuana distribution and use illegal.

I don't often use superlatives, but it's easy to say that 2016 will be the most significant year yet in the battle to repeal marijuana prohibition in the United States.

Up until now, the two biggest years were 1996, when California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana, and 2012, when Colorado and Washington became the first two states to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older.

2016 will likely comprise a cornucopia of cannabis policy advances, which I'll enumerate in the form of predictions.

Federal Policies

The newly autonomous Power 5 conferences may have changed the rulebook with cost-of-attendance stipends, but many of the 65 schools also have been lax about penalties for marijuana use by their student-athletes. 

According to The Associated Press, at least one-third of Power 5 conference schools are not punishing athletes as harshly as they were 10 years ago for testing positive for marijuana and other so-called recreational drugs. 

• Denver nonprofit Cannabis Can gave out 1,000 pre-rolled marijuana joints to the homeless on Christmas Eve
• The organization also passed out flyers and business cards with more information about Cannabis Can in hopes that people would donate
• The organization plans to use donations to buy several RVs to provide restrooms and showers for those in need
• The nonprofit organization's goal is to use marijuana for good and to bring people together through the drug to make a difference
• It is illegal to smoke marijuana in public in Denver, but it can be given as a gift and a person can carry up to one once at a time 

The velocity and breadth of growth in the marijuana industry will, for the most part, be determined by the pace of state and, eventually, national legalization.

Eventual rescheduling or de-listing of marijuana as a federally prohibited drug will hopefully lead to consistent and uniform national regulation and taxing authorizations that will ultimately change the structural and economic landscape of the Cannabis Industry.

A statistical analysis of current sales trends is a useful tool to understand a newly liberated consumer base and allows us to make certain reasonable projections for subsequent growth rates. But such analysis, in a holistic sense, is somewhat contingent upon the direction of future political and legal reforms.