Friday kicks off the Medical Marijuana Expo in Detroit

(WXYZ) - Friday kicks off the Medical Marijuana Expo in Detroit.

Organizers are setting up for the weekend expo at the Roostertail offering information on the many businesses related to medicinal marijuana and information on how to obtain a medical card to purchase marijuana.

There are an estimated 130-thousand patients registered in the state to use medical marijuana and around 27,000 caregivers licensed to give them marijuana.

Michael Friedman is CEO of Mediswipe. His company once based in Florida is now in Detroit.

Friedman's company matches the medical marijuana users together with the caregivers, allowing a financial transaction through a card called "Mediswipe".

His company is filling a hole left open in July when banks got cold feet after consumers started buying medical marijuana with a credit card.

As of today Michigan and 18 other states are approved for medicinal marijuana, and six more states have pending legislation and all the users need a way to pay--leading Friedman to Michigan.

Mediswipe will add numbers to the medical marijuana business that hasn't been tracked before.

Friedman thinks it's currently a more than $30 million a year business in Michigan, and if eventually taxed, could bring about $10 million to the state.