Rip City Remedies has dispensed medical marijuana for nearly three years from a storefront on Southeast Division Street and yet it wasn't until Monday that the three guys behind the business felt truly legitimate.

That's when Rip City Remedies' general manager Scott Grenfell, 39, sat down at a folding table in the shop and logged onto the Oregon Medical Marijuana Dispensary Program website to register the business with the state.

Rip City Remedies’ owners, Shawn Huguley, 30, and Tony Merton, 34, stood nearby watching silently as Grenfell’s shaky fingers pecked at the keyboard.

“I feel more anxious today than when me and Tony first opened,” Huguley said moments before the state medical marijuana dispensary registry opened.

Traffic to the state's online application site was "very robust" when it opened at 8:30 a.m., said Tom Burns, head of the new dispensary program. The state will not have a tally of how many businesses applied until later Monday.

"Everything has worked the way we expected it," Burns said.

Until now, Oregon’s medical marijuana retail industry has operated in a gray area, relying largely on the tolerance of local communities and police. Some communities, especially in Washington County and parts of southern Oregon, balked at retail sales of medical marijuana and took steps to shut down businesses. Others, notably Portland, greeted the outlets with a shrug.

A new law, passed in 2013, directed the Oregon Health Authority to create a registry of medical marijuana facilities. Those facilities must follow security and testing rules and they have to carefully track the marijuana coming in and out of their stores. The state, meanwhile, has two regulators who will inspect the establishments annually.

The issue of whether local governments can ban medical marijuana dispensaries remains unsettled. The Oregon House of Representatives delayed until Tuesday a vote on a bill that would allow local governments to ban the outlets. The Senate last month unanimously supported a bill that allows local regulation but not prohibition of the establishments.

Rip City Remedies, one of the older dispensaries in Portland, spent months laying groundwork for Monday. The owners installed more cameras than required. They got rid of the lounge where patients lingered to smoke. (On-site consumption is not permitted under state rules.)

They installed a spendy inventory tracking system. They made sure their location is 1,000 feet from a school, but worried they might be within 1,000 feet of the dispensary up the street, which would violate the law. So Grenfell got a walking wheel tape measure and checked. (Turned out Rip City Remedies is 1,200 feet from the nearest dispensary.)

And they keep an attorney on retainer. Amy Margolis, a criminal defense lawyer who also advises medical marijuana businesses and sat on the dispensary rules committee, fielded questions all day Sunday as her clients prepared to apply Monday morning. She was on hand as Rip City Remedies filed its application.

"I have been telling my clients, 'You want to be over-compliant,'" she said.

With a few minutes until the state’s website opened, Merton, Grenfell and Huguley moved into a back office, where Grenfell took a seat and waited. They didn’t know what to expect. Would the state’s website crash? Would their application go through?

The faint odor of dried marijuana settled over the room. Two close-up images of marijuana flowers hung from the wall. Grenfell, anticipating nerves, had already filled out a sample copy of the registry application and used it as a guide. Once he submitted the application, he had one more thing to do: pay the $4,000 fee.

At 8:37 a.m., Grenfell had completed the online process.

The men cheered, gave each other high-fives and popped a bottle of champagne.

"The only time I've had that type of feeling is before my son was born," said Huguley.

Margolis' phone, meanwhile, lit up with texts and calls from her other medical marijuana dispensary clients as each completed the application process. "Part of history," one texted her. "Very cool."

Margo Sperry, who operates Urban Farmacy on Northeast 60th Avenue in Portland, said the process was a breeze. She was done in about four minutes.

"It feels kind of monumental," she said. "It's kind of like being a part of a pioneering industry."

The online application complete, Grenfell has five days to send the state the additional paperwork that's required. The state will then review the application and, if all requirements are met, will issue Rip City Remedies a registration.

Their jitters behind them, the Merton, Grenfell and Huguley reflected on what the process means for their business.

"We've been in the gray so long," Merton said. "It's going to feel great to have the state backing you."

-- Noelle Crombie