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.

October 2013: State Rep. Eileen Kowall, R-White Lake, introduces a bill — HB 5104 — to legalize non-smokable forms of medical marijuana, such as brownies and oils. Sen. Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw Township, introduces a bill — SB 660 — that would allow pharmacies to dispense medical marijuana if the federal government reclassifies marijuana as a Schedule 2 controlled substance.

December 2013: Both the House and Senate pass the pharmacy bill and the House passes the other two medical marijuana bills, all with large, bipartisan majorities. Gov. Rick Snyder signs the medical marijuana pharmacy bill, but the federal government still has not reclassified marijuana.

August 2014: The Senate Government Operations Committee passes the dispensary and non-smokable marijuana bills, but neither bill gets a final vote in the Senate and the bills die in lame duck.

February 2015: Callton reintroduces the dispensary bill — HB 4209 — and Rep. Lisa Lyons, R-Alto, reintroduces the non-smokable bill — HB 4210 — after Kowall leaves the House of Representatives in 2014 because of term limits. Eileen Kowall signs a consulting contract with a medical marijuana business worth $15,000 worth of shares in the company, but later says she returned the shares a few days later after realizing it would represent a conflict of interest for her husband, Sen. Mike Kowall, R-White Lake.

July  2015: The political action committee for Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee where the medical marijuana bills will end up, holds a fund-raiser and receives nine donations worth $14,000 from people with ties to the medical marijuana industry.

August 2015: State Rep. Klint Kesto, R-Commerce Township, introduces a bill — HB 4827 — that creates a seed-to-sale tracking system to follow medical marijuana from grower to patient.

September 2015: Businessman Ron Boji holds a fund-raiser at his Orchard Lake home for Mike Kowall, and a handful of people with links to the medical marijuana industry are in attendance and donate to Kowall's campaign fund.

October 2015: After going through a drastic rewrite of the dispensary bill, all three medical marijuana bills pass the House of Representatives with wide, bipartisan majorities.

December 2015: Brian Pierce, chief of staff for Kesto, leaves the Legislature and registers as a lobbyist with only one client, the Michigan Responsibility Council, a trade association for businesses that want to get into the medical marijuana business.

February 2016: Sen. David Robertson, R-Grand Blanc, introduces SB 776, which tightens up the deadlines to turn in ballot proposal signatures. The bill, which passes on a party-line vote in both the House and Senate, is signed into law by Snyder in June. The bill has the effect of killing a ballot proposal to legalize marijuana for recreational use in the state.

Mid-2016: After several hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Jones, the chairman of the committee, can’t muster a majority of votes to move the bills to the full Senate.

September 2016: Kowall calls for a discharge of the medical marijuana bills from committee, and all receive final passage in the Senate and House.

Sept. 21, 2016: Snyder signs the three bills into law.

January 2017: Sandra McCormick, chief of staff for Jones, leaves the Senate to become executive director and a lobbyist for the Michigan Cannabis Development Association.

Dec. 15, 2017: Individuals and businesses may begin applying for licenses for the five categories of medical marijuana regulation.