Although Alaska voted in favor of legalizing marijuana in November, it was still up to individual towns to decide whether or not possession of cannabis for any adult at least 21 years old would be legal.

Monday night, the North Pole city council met to decide the fate of marijuana in Santa Claus’s hometown. And Santa himself showed up to weigh in.

Get push notifications with news, features and more.

A North Pole resident whose legal name is Santa Claus showed up at the North Pole’s City Council meeting and dropped his two cents. “As far as the image goes here at North Pole, how do most people perceive Santa Claus?” Claus said. “I would say Santa Claus is a pretty jolly fellow.”

“I am a medical marijuana patient,” Claus continued. “I would like to have access to medical marijuana here in North Pole and not have to travel to Fairbanks to get it.”

Eventually, an ordinance to ban marijuana dispensaries by Councilwoman Sharron Hunter was voted down, 5-2.

“Really letting the market dictate where it goes is a more appropriate setting,” Ward said. “If shops opened up here, if it’s something this community doesn’t want, people aren’t going to shop there.”

Claus reached out to us to clarify what he described as inaccuracies in this story. His statement is below:

“I was not ‘petitioning to legalize marijuana in North Pole.’ I was commenting to North Pole City Council in June, expressing my view that, as an Alaska State registered medical marijuana patient myself, I did not want City Council here blocking cannabis dispensaries from being established in North Pole in 2016. After my comments, the Council voted in favor of permitting cannabis dispensaries in North Pole after the State of Alaska implements its regulatory process in 2016.”

“The State of Alaska decriminalized cannabis in 1975, with certain restrictions.

The State of Alaska legalized cannabis earlier this year, with restrictions.

The State of Alaska currently is formulating regulations, regarding the sale of cannabis in general and through dispensaries, for implementation in 2016.”