Members of Congress this morning unveiled the 2016 Omnibus Appropriations bill, legislation that is responsible for funding the federal government through the 2016 fiscal year.  While stand alone marijuana related bills rarely gain traction in Congress, the annual omnibus appropriations bill has become a tool for federal lawmakers to pass marijuana related language into annual spending guidelines. 

In last week’s Legislative Round Up, we covered five distinct marijuana provisions that lawmakers sought to include in the final draft of the 2016 spending bill. 

As 2015 comes to an end and 2016 quickly approaches, many people with huge financial goals in the works might be wondering how to better manage their money or get out of debt in the new year. But smart investors — they want to know where they should be putting their money next year. To do that, they need to know which industries are expected to yield high returns.

Based on research and experts’ opinions, here are seven fast-growing industries investors should consider investing in for 2016.

A Minnesota medical marijuana company has developed a potent new strain it hopes will help patients, and help drive down prices.

Minnesota Medical Solutions announced Wednesday that it has bred a new strain of cannabis that is rich in cannabidiol, or CBD — a nonintoxicating compound used to treat seizures and inflammation. Because CBD is found in lower ratios in most marijuana varieties, the company hopes its new high-CBD strain will make its products easier and cheaper to refine.

“This is potentially a huge cost saver,” said Dr. Kyle Kingsley, CEO of MinnMed and its parent company, Vireo Health.

It's been three years since recreational cannabis was legalized in Washington - and in the weeks leading up to the holidays, business has never been more brisk.

Overall, monthly sales in the state grew from $3-million in the first year, to more than $57-million this November. Figures from the Liquor and Cannabis Board indicate 24 tons of marijuana was harvested in the state in November alone.

Even as opinion stands divided on the economic and social gains on legalising cannabis, cannabis advocates are pointing to the gains made in the tourism sector by Colorado as a case study for all countries thinking of liberalizing cannabis laws.

According to a report commissioned by the Colorado Tourism Office, half of all the tourists visiting Colorado are influenced by the liberal cannabis laws. More than 20 percent of visitors also attest that Colorado's laws were "extremely influential."

Visit weed delivery startup Flow Kana online and you'll find colorful descriptions of "connoisseur grade" cannabis that's "nourished by the sun, moon, and stars" and packaged in Mason jars.

It sounds like something the hipster characters of "Portlandia" — and other socially-conscious urbanites — could be into.

Pot advocates are sputtering in the fight to legalize marijuana.

Lawmakers extended protections for medical marijuana patients, but declined to adopt any further pot measures as part of a $1.9 trillion government spending bill for 2016, unveiled early Wednesday.

The Justice Department would be prohibited from prosecuting people who are following their state medical marijuana and hemp research laws. These provisions were first included in this year’s government funding bill.

However, provisions failed that would have granted pot shops access to banks and allowed doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs to recommend medical marijuana to soldiers.

Furthermore, lawmakers will continue to block Washington, D.C., from regulating pot.

America's high school students are using drugs and alcohol at or near the lowest levels on record

America's high school students are using drugs and alcohol at or near the lowest levels on record, according to federal data released Wednesday. The 2015 Monitoring the Future Survey, conducted by the University of Michigan and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) since 1975, found that past-year use of alcohol and illicit drugs other than marijuana continued their two-decade-long decline among America's 8th-, 10th- and 12th-graders.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has all but refused to acknowledge lawful cannabis producers as part of legitimate commerce here in the United States, but that has not stopped the agency from working with corporate drug pushers in the importation of cannabis products to be used to facilitate the Big Pharma takeover of the medical marijuana industry.

While the tide of public opinion has been slowly turning in favor of legalizing weed over the past five to 10 years, that hasn’t always been the case. 

In fact, beginning in the 1930s, hemp was strongly stigmatized in the U.S., largely because of its association with the growing Mexican immigrant population. As federal and state laws against the drug became enacted, several films were also released that helped bolster the anti-marijuana movement.