GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- Would you drive three or four hours every time you needed a prescription refilled?

That's what many medical marijuana users on the Western Slope have to do.

There are 280 registered medical marijuana users on the Western Slope, but no dispensary has been established on the there, according to the Brian Vicente, executive director of Sensible Colorado, a drug-law-reform advocacy group.

Vicente explained a dispensary is typically a pharmacy-like setting and is the safest way for medical marijuana patients to get their marijuana. Vicente is concerned that patients may not know how to grow the plants themselves or may try to get marijuana on the black market which he said is not safe for a patient who is sick enough to get a medical marijuana permit.

Under state law, medical marijuana users who have registered with the state may possess less than two ounces of marijuana or grow up to six marijuana plants.

Vicente goes expects medical marijuana facilities will begin to pop up within the year to meet the demand of medical marijuana users in the area.