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.
Wallace is among those who hope to benefit from three new Michigan laws passed last year to set up a framework for the state to legalize, regulate and tax a broader range of the medical cannabis industry. The change likely to get the most public attention is the legalization of retail dispensaries, which had been bogged down by legal questions since the state’s original medical marijuana law was approved by voters in 2008.
