Dr. Paul Song wants to sell marijuana to your ailing grandparents.
His new cannabis dispensary, set to open on Wilshire Boulevard, is intended to provide a “community service,” he says, and will not contribute to the recent uptick in local crime.
“We want to be good neighbors,” Song, a radiation oncologist and chief medical officer for Calyx Peak Companies, tells The Sun.
Song and his wife, CNN journalist Lisa Ling, are 14 year residents of Santa Monica.
“We certainly see a disruption to the overall quality of life (here) like everyone else,” he says. “And we want to be part of the solution.”
Song’s mission is to supply medical grade marijuana to members of the community who are coping with painful illness.
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His retail store at 925 Wilshire Boulevard will only service customers with valid medical referrals. Despite more lenient state regulations, Santa Monica does not permit the sale of marijuana for recreational use.
The storefront — directly across the street from Santa Monica Liquor — will include dedicated security personnel, Song says.
“We will do everything responsibly. We will follow the letter of the law.”
Song says he was inspired to open the business after watching his father’s battle with cancer.
When Santa Monica first signaled it would allow dispensaries in 2018, he jumped at the chance to apply.
Anyone wishing to be considered for one of the two coveted licenses offered by the city was required to first secure a brick and mortar location.
Locations were restricted to a two mile stretch of Wilshire Boulevard from Lincoln Boulevard heading east or on Santa Monica Boulevard between Lincoln and 20th or 23rd and Centinela Avenue.
Also, shops could not be located within 600 feet of a school, daycare, park, library, or social services center.
Song’s company quickly signed a lease and submitted an application but the process was delayed by what he calls “frivolous lawsuits” from competitors who were rejected.
“We were paying rent for about a year and we finally had to pull out of our lease with the initial property because the rent was just killing us while the appeals process dragging on,” he says.
“We probably lost $300,000 just on rent waiting for the appeals process to complete.”
A new lease was signed a few months later. Song says he hopes to be open for business before the first of the year.
First, he will meet with community members — including the Wilshire Montana Neighborhood Coalition — to address any questions or concerns about how the business might impact the area.
“There has never been any correlation to show that a dispensary attracts a certain element,” he insists.
“If you go to the Med Men on Lincoln, and you see the people waiting in line, they are not the unhoused. A lot of them are professionals accessing cannabis, which is legal, in a legal manner as opposed to on the black market.”
“I think there are way more issues with the 7-11 down the street than there would be with us.”
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