DETROIT, MI -- Detroit has been one of the most lax cities in Michigan regarding the enforcement of medical marijuana dispensaries, which are still illegal under state and federal laws.

With names like The Green Mile, House of Dank, Action Medz and Detroit Grass Station. at latest count there were an estimated 211 dispensaries operating throughout the city, nearly 1.5 per square mile.

The businesses make no effort to hide their intent, and police have left them to operate freely for the most part, despite a state Supreme Court ruling in 2013 that made medical marijuana dispensaries illegal.

Taxing medical marijuana could generate tens of millions of dollars and sustain 10,000 jobs for the state of Michigan, according to an economic impact analysis.

Director of economics at Hillsdale College Dr. Gary Wolfram believes taxing marijuana could rake in between $44.3 and $63.3 million per year for the state.

“It will create a robust economy in the sense that it will make a safe place for people who currently have registration,” Wolfram told FOX 17. Wolfram based his estimates on proposed legislative reforms that would tax medical marijuana dispensaries at 3 percent and patients would pay a 6 percent sales tax.

But zoning rules might curtail plans

Companies like Dank House, Motown Meds and Your Grass Station were among 82 businesses that applied to operate medical marijuana shops in Detroit on Tuesday, when the city’s new marijuana regulations went into effect.

Of the first 79 businesses that applied for zoning approval, 23 were from Detroit, 11 were from Howell, six were from Bloomfield Hills and the rest were scattered throughout the state, mostly in southeast Michigan.

Senator Coleman Young II introduced a bill and a Resolution related to marijuana in the Michigan Senate on Feb. 24.

Senate Bill 813 would establish the “Nonmedical Marihuana Code”. It would legalize marijuana and allow possession of one ounce and 5 flowering plants per adult, plus an unlimited amount of marijuana generated from the plants, provided that stash is kept where the garden is. Out-of-state visitors are allowed one-half an ounce of flower. Hashish: 5 grams for residents, one gram for tourists.

Young’s measure would regulate growing facilities, dispensaries and “marijuana lounges’’ where people could indulge in pot-infused brownies without fear of arrest. Smoking pot in public would not be allowed; violators could be hit with a $100 fine.

Under the measure, Michigan residents will be able to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and five marijuana plants. Non-residents would be limited to a half-ounce.

Marijuana growers would have to keep plants out of public view and “secure from unauthorized access.’’

The bill establishes an excise tax, including $50 per ounce of marijuana flowers and $15 per ounce for marijuana leaves. It requires growers to pay taxes to the State Department of Treasury on the 15th of each month.

Off licences, fast food restaurants and abandoned buildings line Gratiot Street in north-east Detroit where the cannabis dispensary 420 Dank stands.

The store is not owner Kim Gaetano's first foray into the medical marijuana business. The mother of two ran legal marijuana shops in Colorado and Washington before moving to Detroit to be closer to family. 

Her shop sells cannabis flowers as well as edible products and has a 24-hour drive-through for patients who find it difficult to get out of their cars, especially in the harsh Michigan winter. 

But despite the store's success, Ms Gaetano and her nine employees may soon be out of business. 

Voters in 20 U.S. states could potentially legalize some form of cannabis use in the November 2016 election — part of a historic backlash to the century-old war on marijuana.

According to Ballotpedia, the encyclopedia of American politics, activists have submitted ballot measures for public vote in: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Ride through the streets of Detroit at any time, day or night and you can’t help but wonder what’s happening with the city’s war on drugs.

Medical marijuana shops are everywhere.

Even the police are amazed by what they see.

Everyone is surprised.

Danzal Coleman, a student at Osborn High School says it’s tempting for teens.

"It's really easy to get,” he says. “If you want it, go ahead pay someone extra, go in there get it for you."

Thanks to a loophole in Michigan’s medical marijuana act, the number of shops has exploded. There are 211 in the city. Not many in the suburbs. And get this – just 97 public schools in Detroit.

Councilman Scott Benson is one of many fighting for tougher regulations.

A number of area attorneys are telling The Compassion Chronicles that medical marijuana dispensaries are being raided by the Detroit Police Department, despite assurances that businesses of that type will begin licensing procedures on March 1.

Although attorneys are reluctant to release the names of the dispensaries involved, it seems more than a dozen raids or ‘visits’ by DPD have been executed in the last two weeks. Dispensaries in the city have been renamed “medical marihuana caregiver centers” (MMCC) by the City Council.

As of yesterday morning, medical marijuana dispensaries in Detroit will be opening envelopes containing letters from the City of Detroit regarding the city’s new registration process- and a reminder that most of them will not be in operation for very much longer.

The letter was referenced in a Powerpoint presentation created by three different divisions of government and delivered to City Council during a meeting Tuesday morning. The presentation, titled “Medical Marihuana Caregiver Center Application Process Status Report For Detroit City Council,” identifies 211 dispensary locations in the city and includes a map.