HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. -- The growing number of Coloradans registering for medicinal marijuana must buy the drug somewhere, so a chiropractor in Highlands Ranch is opening what he calls the first legal marijuana dispensary in Douglas County.

Already this year, the state health department has issued more registration cards than it issued in all of 2008.

More than 7,600 people are actively registered to possess medicinal marijuana, but the laws around legally selling it are less clear.

In the past, selling pot once belonged to the seedy underworld of drug dealers, hardly the realm of a quiet chiropractor in Highlands Ranch.

But on one side of Dr. Eric Hatch's office, he provides more mainstream treatments, and on the other, a pot shop.

"We have some of the more popular varieties of medical grade marijuana," said Hatch. "I've kind of been amazed in the last three weeks how fast this has taken off."

It is a growing trend.

In April, a pot store opened in Loveland.

Papers such as "Westword" promote places to find medicinal marijuana, which is how Colton Fallows discovered Hatch.

Fallows suffers from chronic pain after a high school football injury.

"I like feeling like I'm safe getting my medicine," said Fallows. "I don’t want to feel like I'm using drugs or doing something illegal when I'm using it for something that helps me."

But there is still an element of danger. Last month, police arrested four men accused of robbing a Boulder marijuana dispensary.

Hatch said he believes he's being safe because they carry only a small amount of the product, keep little cash and remove it at night.

Still, not everyone is thrilled about the idea of dispensaries.

The health department is considering new rules that would limit the number of people a caretaker could treat, which might prevent shops from serving large numbers of people.