[420 Girl]

Cristal Dawn Speller saw a need in Redding for her medical marijuana clinic.

So the Glendale-based doctor opened Natural Care For Wellness in downtown Redding in July and has been doing brisk business.

Speller, who went to Stanford University Medical School and specialized in pediatrics, opens the center on Fridays for three hours and typically sees between 20 and 50 patients. Each pays Speller $175 for a one-year recommendation - renewals are $150 - that allows them to use, purchase, grow and transport cannabis in California.

The 41-year-old physician flies up each week to see patients. She also operates a clinic in Chico, which opened in 2007.

"I started here in Redding because I noticed last year that more and more patients from Redding were going to Chico," Speller said.

Hardly a coincidence, medical marijuana co-ops doing business in Shasta County have increased dramatically in 2009.

Responding to the sudden growth, the cities of Anderson and Shasta Lake recently passed temporary moratoriums on medical marijuana shops.

Supervisors of Shasta and Tehama counties on Tuesday will consider taking up 45-day bans on new collectives. The Shasta County measure was spurred by the opening of Your Cottonwood Collective in the historic cattle town.

But with the Obama administration declaring that it will stop frequent raids on cannabis co-ops and dispensaries, the businesses already have gone main street in the north state.

River Valley Collective opened in late July next door to the historic Cascade Theatre on Market Street in downtown Redding.

Trusted Friends, a co-op that opened late last year, has seen its membership blossom to some 2,700 people, a 50 percent jump since June. The nonprofit recently relocated to Pine Street in downtown Redding and opened a second location on Churn Creek Road in Redding.

In fact, co-ops doing business in Redding have gone from four in June to more than 10 today.

"I think with the viewpoint of the current administration and also our economic situation, people are trying to survive right now," said Michael Vasquez of Trinity Gardens Inc., which opened on Railroad Avenue in Redding in July.

Redding doesn't have a specific ordinance for the nonprofit co-ops within the city limits. The city treats them like pharmacies and requires they do business in appropriately zoned areas.

Vasquez and others want the city to further regulate marijuana co-ops before they start showing up on every corner. They even suggest putting a city tax on sales.

The Los Angeles Times reported last week that there are 966 dispensaries registered in Los Angeles.

In July, Oakland voters approved a 1.8 percent tax - on top of the typical sales tax - on gross receipts of cannabis businesses. Oakland officials estimate the tax will raise $294,000 in additional revenue in 2010.

"There's been no discussion related to implementing new or burdensome taxes of that nature," Redding City Manager Kurt Starman said.

Starman, though, suggests it would behoove Anderson, Shasta Lake, Shasta County and Redding to work together on regulating the co-ops to avoid "unintended consequences," such as a plethora of medicinal cannabis shops opening in one location.

"I think it's important for us to be consistent," Starman said.

Tawnya McKee, who has smoked marijuana medicinally for about 13 years, would like to see a cap on co-ops in the area.

"You need some kind of control - like not by schools," McKee said. "Before you know it, there will be a pharmacy in Walmart selling marijuana."

McKee, 32, visited Speller on Friday to "become legal." Marijuana helps McKee cope with the effects of endometriosis, a painful condition in which the tissue that normally lines the uterus grows in other areas of the body. McKee said she can't tolerate pain medications like Vicodin.

"I don't have to hide anymore," McKee said of getting a recommendation, which she received after spending 10 minutes with Speller.

Speller asks all of her patients to bring either a note from a doctor, medical records or a radiology report before she will write up a 12-month recommendation. Speller said she has written thousands of recommendations since 2005.

Insurance isn't accepted, but Speller tells patients they can forward their receipts in hopes of getting an insurance reimbursement.

Speller said the side effects of marijuana are few and many patients suffering with pain have found relief from the herbal remedy.

"It's medicine like any other. That's the way I treat it," Speller said.

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