MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013
Volume 12 Issue 79
Santa Monica Daily Press
SWIPING THE TOP SPOT SEE PAGE 3
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THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE ISSUE
Community suggestions on medical pot run gamut BY KEVIN HERRERA Editor-in-Chief
MAIN LIBRARY As Los Angeles struggles to decide what to do with its medical marijuana dispensaries, Santa Monica city officials embarked Thursday on the complex process of deciding whether or not to allow them at all, and if so how to regulate them. Unfortunately, very few people bothered to attend the first public meeting of its kind. About a dozen people, many of whom owned dispensaries in Los Angeles and West Hollywood, showed up at the Main Library to express their opinions. And while the ideas varied when it came to regulating them, one thing was clear: The majority favored allowing dispensaries to set up shop in Santa Monica. Filmmaker Len Richmond, who produced the documentary “What if Cannabis Cured Cancer?” was one of them. The Santa Monica resident said he is disabled and can’t drive to other areas where dispensaries are already in operation. He needs to get his medical marijuana closer to home to provide relief for the pain he suffers because of kidney stones and shingles. He also said that only a certain strain of marijuana works and without a professional to help guide him, he would have to hit the streets and take his chances. “Without dispensaries in Santa Monica, you are making it very prohibitive for me,” he said. City officials presented a list of policyoriented questions to guide the night, beginning with the most critical: Is there a need for medical marijuana in Santa Monica? If the answer to that is “yes,” City Hall needs to lay down other guidelines, including how many facilities should be allowed; the placement of those in relation to schools, playgrounds and other community sites; and whether or not proprietors should be allowed to grow or process marijuana on SEE MARIJUANA PAGE 8
CAMERA READY
Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford host the 'Today Show' at Santa Monica Place on Saturday. The pair were at the mall shooting segments for the popular morning show. A raffle was held during the shoot that awarded one audience member a new Toyota RAV4. The winner was initially led to believe that all she won was a musical CD produced by Gifford.
New documentary struggles to get airtime Tight budget prevents exposure of homeless vets' stories, filmmaker says BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD Daily Press Staff Writer
WEST L.A. What if you made a movie and no one could see it? Documentarian Bill Dumas is facing that question now over his newest
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release, “Duty, Honor, Country, Betrayal,” a film narrated by actor and activist Ed Asner that looks into the decade-long conflict between the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and those it is meant to serve over the use of land at the VA's sprawling, scenic campus in
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West Los Angeles. Although nearly every filmmaker begins a project with the intention that it accrue some kind of success or acclaim, Dumas' film is about more than filled theSEE VETS PAGE 10
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