A marijuana shop near Los Angeles scraped off the image of a pot-smoking Santa Claus — as well as the painted character of a snowman holding a prescription pill bottle — from its storefront windows after neighbors complained of the messaging.
The Harbor House of Dank, a medical marijuana dispensary located in San Pedro, was the target of hundreds of complaints, KNBC-TV reported.
In addition to smoking a marijuana joint, the Santa was also depicted as holding a water pipe.
“What do you tell your kids about that? I was shocked when I drove by in the morning, knowing there’s a junior high school a block away,” Tony Apodaca told the news station.
The store manager said he wasn’t aware of all the complaints, but that when he learned of the community outrage, he called the artist who had painted the images to come back and remove them, the New York Daily News reported.
“It’s the right thing to do for the owner to take it down,” Mr. Apodaca said, the newspaper reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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