Could retail medical marijuana thrive in West Michigan?

State lawmakers could likely establish a system to tax and regulate medical marijuana dispensaries this month, but many question whether those businesses will ever thrive in West Michigan.

Over the past five years, dispensaries have primarily been located in places like Lansing, Ann Arbor and Detroit. Dozens operate in the open in those cities under legally gray auspices in which local officials and law enforcement back away from shutting them down.

That’s not necessarily the case in West Michigan, where as recently as last month,…