The medical marijuana industry is poised to explode with new state regulations and taxes on the dispensaries that will sell the weed. Kathleen Gray/Detroit Free Press

Nov. 4, 2008: Michigan voters pass a ballot proposal by a 63%-37% margin to allow the use of medical marijuana.

May 2012: State Rep. Mike Callton, R-Nashville, introduces a bill that would allow medical marijuana dispensaries in communities. The bill doesn't get a hearing.

February 2013: Callton  reintroduces a bill — HB 4271 — that would allow communities to determine whether and where medical marijuana dispensaries can be located.

Illinois state lawmakers are considering a proposal that could make Illinois the first state in the Midwest and the ninth nationally to legalize recreational pot.

Two Chicago Democrats introduced legislation last week that would legalize small amounts of marijuana for adults and license businesses to sell cannabis products. They argue it would help solve the state’s budget crisis.

Sen. Heather Steans and Rep. Kelly Cassidy say the move could raise between $350 to $700 million in tax revenue, create new jobs and bolster tourism.

But they know the proposal could face opposition from fellow lawmakers. They plan to jumpstart conversations with legislators, interest groups and the public this spring but won’t move legislation this session.

On Monday, the Attorney General's office presents its budget to a joint Senate Finance, Assembly Ways and Means subcommittee.

Ways and Means Chairwoman Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, and other members have invited Attorney General Adam Laxalt to present his budget, noting other constitutional officers present their proposed spending plans in person. Even Gov. Brian Sandoval shows up to present key initiatives in his spending plan as he did two years ago for his education reforms.

The Assembly Judiciary Committee will hear Assembly Bill 395, which makes a variety of changes to laws involving the community notification and registration of juvenile sex offenders, including providing the courts the ability to eliminate reporting and notification in certain cases.

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A former Liberal cabinet minister who recently chaired a panel guiding Ottawa’s push to legalize cannabis says police everywhere should enforce the existing prohibition of marijuana, despite several communities in British Columbia choosing to regulate – not raid – illegal pot shops.

Anne McLellan, head of an official task force that submitted recommendations to Ottawa on how best to legalize cannabis, said Thursday that Vancouver crafted Canada’s first municipal marijuana bylaw in response to what was a “growing difficult situation for them.”

Recreational marijuana will not be legally sold in Massachusetts until July of 2018, but by 2020, the state could collect as much as $172-million each year just from sales taxes.

The Department of Revenue calculated this number, assuming marijuana is taxed a total of 12%, according to the ballot law voters approved in November. It adds a 3.75% excise tax to the state’s 6.25% sales tax, and another 2% cities and towns can add if they host a pot shop.

Those who support the ballot law caution lawmakers not to set the tax rate too high, or else it could drive some buyers to go to the black market.

If the excise tax bumps up to 5%, the state could collect $11 million more. Lawmakers still haven’t finalized how much pot will be taxed in the state.

Illinois State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) and Illinois State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) introduced identical legislation Wednesday in both General Assembly chambers to legalize and tax recreational marijuana for adults in the state.

Senate Bill 316 and House Bill 2353 would legalize the possession of up to 28 grams of marijuana and allow facilities to sell marijuana products for adults over 21 and tax those sales "in a manner similar to alcohol."

On time and intact implementation of California’s Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act , is critical to realizing the benefits of legalization and reducing the harms from decades of prohibition that have resulted in the mass incarceration and criminalization of low-income people of color, and utterly failed to protect public health and public safety.

Efficient implementation of Prop. 64 is urgent. While Prop. 64 legalized possession and consumption of cannabis products for adults 21 and over, there is still no legal source to obtain it, except for patients with a doctor’s recommendation, or grow at home (six plants per household).