John Wallace stood in a small storage building with concrete-block walls and explained his vision for the first retail marijuana store in Buchanan.

Medical cannabis patients would have to check in at a front desk. After showing the proper identification, they would be shown to the display room, where friendly bud-tenders would help them choose from a selection of weed, oils or marijuana-laced foods.

With a shortage of authorized caregivers to provide medical marijuana services, patients could benefit from a retail outlet, he said, though city officials have yet to give it their blessing.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — More medical marijuana dispensaries are expected to open next year in Michigan. A set of bills signed by Gov. Rick Snyder have made dispensaries and production of edibles legal.

You may remember recent raids that shut down medical marijuana dispensaries in West Michigan. The new state laws will let people apply for a license to legally grow and sell marijuana.

Rep. Mike Callton, R-Nashville, is behind the three bills that create the licensing and regulatory framework for medical marijuana.

“It’s going to create more jobs, it’s going to generate some tax revenue for the state and municipalities,” said Callton.

New medical marijuana laws go into effect across Michigan on Tuesday.

The laws center around creating a new structure and set of businessregulations for the still-budding industry.

Matt Abel, executive director of Michigan NORML, a pro-pot group, says the changes include a new category of marijuana-infused products.

“In addition to dried leaves and flowers being legal to possess for patients, the legislature has added the words resin and extract, so now concentrated forms of cannabis will be legal in Michigan … and topical oils and ointments, tinctures, which are a liquid that someone might put under their tongue, beverages and edibles.”

Uncertainty about the city's proposed commercial medical marijuana ordinance has created an uneasy situation for Jeff Nemeth.

Nemeth is CEO of a cannabis testing facility called ACT Laboratories Inc. Nearly $200,000 has been invested in his business that's been located in a light industrial corridor between Cedar Street and Pennsylvania Avenue for over a year and a half. It generates a loyal following with state-registered caregivers and patients. It hosts monthly support group meetings of up to 50 people that are aimed to educate patients, family members and organizations.

And it could soon be on its way to Jackson.

MILegalize, the group attempting to bring a vote on recreational marijuana use in Michigan, has filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to put the issue on the 2018 ballot.

The group is arguing the 345,000 petition signatures they turned in this year are valid, and they were unfairly stymied from putting the issue on the November 2016 ballot. 

They are asking the U.S. Supreme Court "to remand the case with an order to fairly canvass and qualify MILegalize's petitions for inclusion at the next regular election -- the 2018 gubernatorial race," according to a press release.

Medical marijuana…a hot topic for quite some time. Some people say they’re against the cannabis industry for many reasons, including the stigma of dispensaries and others try to shed a positive light on the growing business.

That’s exactly what the medical marijuana business conference here in Lansing aimed to do today.

“See that it’s normal, see that it’s not scary and become part of the new cannabis economy,” said Medical Marijuana Conference Host Rick Thompson.

In just over two weeks, three new laws will go into effect in Michigan to regulate medical marijuana. Because of that, the conference served as an educational space for aspiring medical marijuana entrepreneurs.