Joint-Smoking Santa Display Backfires for LA Dispensary

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In a lesson on how not to advertise your medical marijuana business, a dispensary in Los Angeles removed a depiction in its storefront window of Santa Claus smoking a joint after community members complained.

The Harbor House of Dank, a Southern California dispensary, also scraped off a painting of a snowman holding a prescription pill bottle, according to NBC Los Angeles.

Despite being in poor taste, the shop owner may have opened a legal can of worms. LA Councilman Joe Buscaino’s office said the displays may be illegal because they don’t fall under the guidelines of Proposition D, the TV station reported.

The owner of the dispensary removed the images after finding out about the furor, saying he wasn’t aware that so many people were angry.

With a junior high school just a block from the business, hundreds of people expressed their anger about the paintings on a neighborhood watch Facebook page.

“Have some damn sense, kids walk by that place all the time,” one post on the page said.

Los Angeles medical marijuana businesses have already been under fire as of late. Earlier this month the city council suggested denying tax certificates to dispensaries it deems illegal and forcing existing operations to reapply for licenses.