Last night, CNBC aired its much-touted documentary, "Marijuana Inc." It was a decidedly mixed bag.

It was a portrait of an industry that is huge and thriving, despite the energetic efforts of assorted law enforcement agencies to "eradicate" it. No sane person could watch the program and come away thinking that present government efforts to curb marijuana production or use are working.  With California's Mendocino County as the focus, the crashing failure of the war on marijuana was on vivid display.

What was missing was context. Marijuana consumers, for example, were conspicuously absent. It's hard to imagine any business channel devoting an hour to, say, Apple Computer, without spending at least a few minutes on why so many consumers are fiercely loyal to their iMacs and iPods, and what needs they fill that other products don't. Instead we got lingering, almost pornographic shots of marijuana edibles at an Oakland dispensary but no sense of who the patients are who purchase these products -- much less of the vast volume of research showing marijuana's medicinal benefits. Bear in mind that much of that research was conducted just 20 minutes from where they were filming.

Another missing piece of context: Mendocino is a world-renowned producer of not one but two psychoactive drugs. Literally right alongside the illicit marijuana industry is a licensed, legal, regulated wine industry. And it's a large industry: The county tourism site lists 64 wineries in a county with just 88,000 people.

These wineries produce a drug that, compared to marijuana, is more addictive, massively more toxic, and orders of magnitude more likely to make users violent or aggressive. Yet this industry has virtually none of the problems -- violence, environmental damage, etc. -- that the show ascribed to the illegal marijuana trade. The producers literally had to drive by vineyards to reach some of the locations where they shot, so failure to acknowledge this essential piece of context seems to have required a conscious effort to look the other way.

Tonight at 8:40 p.m. Eastern time, MPP director of government relations Aaron Houston will debate former Drug Enforcement Administration chief Asa Hutchinson on "CNBC Reports." The debate airs right before the premier of CNBC's documentary about the marijuana business, "Marijuana Inc.: Inside America's Pot Industry." The live debate will only be shown once (the documentary will repeat at 1 a.m. Eastern), but will also be available on CNBC's Web site.

Unfazed by three consecutive legal defeats, the California counties of San Bernardino and San Diego last week asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their legal challenge to the state’s 12-year-old medical marijuana law. The 47-page petition – drafted on the public’s dime – is a last ditch effort by the two embattled counties to continue their policy of arresting medical marijuana patients even when the patients are in full compliance with state law.

Their reasoning? Well, all marijuana is illegal under federal law and states do not have the authority to set their own marijuana policies – according to these two rogue counties anyway. Never mind the fact that not a single judge has sided with the counties and that the U.S. Supreme Court has recently denied review of another California ruling which held that local police should enforce state – not federal – law.

This ongoing lawsuit is clearly unpopular with California voters, who overwhelmingly support medical marijuana access. Indeed, scores of citizens have pled with both county boards of supervisors urging them to drop the challenge over the years, and 78% of San Diego voters thought the lawsuit was a waste of money before it was even filed. But these local politicians have apparently determined that fighting this uphill battle is a wise use of public funds, regardless of California’s unprecedented budget crisis.

It does look like the San Bernardino supervisors might be becoming wary of defending their legal challenge, as it appears they violated California’s open meetings law in order to avoid explaining themselves to the public.

San Bernardino's supervisors are no strangers to controversy. In fact, former supervisor and outspoken opponent of medical marijuana Bill Postmus is currently facing charges for methamphetamine possession.

Oh, the irony!

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Dear President Obama:

Like millions of Americans, I choked up watching you take office Tuesday. And like hundreds of millions -- maybe billions -- around the world, I watched and listened to your inaugural address, riveted by the moment.

One line jumped out at me: "We will extend a hand," you said, "if you are willing to unclench your fist." Your words were directed at hostile governments around the world, but they also embody how hundreds of thousands of suffering Americans view their own government.

I'm speaking of people like my old friend Phil Alden in California and Rhonda O'Donnell in Rhode Island -- people who, with the recommendation of their doctor and the approval of their state governments -- have found that medical marijuana helps them cope with life-threatening illness. In Phil's case the illness is AIDS. In Rhonda's, it's multiple sclerosis.

Phil and Rhonda and hundreds of thousands like them live in daily fear of our government. They and any who help them obtain medical marijuana face the risk of federal arrest and prosecution for simply trying to live, for simply trying to maintain some dignity in the face of terrible illness.

You promised during the campaign to end our government's insane war on the sick, and you were right to do so. Now that you are president, let our own government be the first to unclench its fist.

Thank you.

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You wouldn't know it from their Web site, but it turns out the White House drug czar's office is legally required to provide the public with facts that are, well, factual. Under the Data Quality act, all government agencies, including the Office of National Drug Control Policy, are responsible for "ensuring and maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information."

You could print out the material on ONDCP's site, throw a dart at the printout, and probably hit an assertion that's at least suspect. We picked one we found particularly egregious – the demonstrably false title of the drug czar's publication, "Marijuana: The Greatest Cause of Illegal Drug Abuse."

On Oct. 16, 2008, my colleague, Nathan Miller, an attorney here, filed a petition calling on the drug czar to correct the title, which obviously refers to the long discredited "gateway theory" fantasy (see Question 6).

On Dec. 28, the drug czar's chief scientist, David Murray (who isn't a scientist, by the way -- his degree is in anthropology) responded, but didn't really address the substance of the claim. His letter is pretty short and straightforward if you want to look at it, but basically he made two bizarre arguments: 1) that titles are inherently statements of opinion or policy and therefore not subject to DQA standards, and 2) that the word "cause" shouldn't be read to refer to the gateway theory.

Nathan responded last week, pointing out that Murray had failed to adequately address the underlying falsehood as he is legally required to do. We'll see how that goes.

Voting on change.org’s “Ideas for Change in America” came to a close today with “Legalize the Medical and Recreational Use of Marijuana” coming in as the most popular idea. The top ten ideas will be presented to President-elect Obama during a press conference on Friday.

Change.gov, Obama’s official transition Web site, has twice opened up voting in a similar feature called “Open for Questions.” Each time, a question about marijuana policy reached the top ten. And each time, the transition team brushed off the question by simply stating that "President-elect Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana.” It will be interesting to see how he responds this time, as the question includes medical marijuana, something Obama has been fairly supportive of in the past.

As of 5:00 p.m. today, the marijuana policy question had received 19,530 votes – 4,500 more than “Appoint Secretary of Peace in Department of Peace and Non-Violence,” which came in second on the list.

In addition, change.gov has opened voting in a new online forum called the “Citizen’s Briefing Book.” “Ending Marijuana Prohibition” is currently the most popular idea.

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I must not be high enough to understand what exactly the point is of this latest ad from the drug czar's office -- the behaviors depicted in it seem typical for lots of teenagers, straight or stoned. Still, I'm happy to help them get their message out, whatever it is. Feel free to use the comments section and give me your own interpretations.