Jason Christ, much in the news at the beginning of 2010 for his traveling "cannabis caravans" that signed up medical marijuana patients, ended the year entangled in lawsuits and facing a felony intimidation charge.

Throughout the year, Christ - whose attention-grabbing tactics including smoking dope on the Capitol lawn in Helena as well as other public places around the state - increasingly became a lightning rod for critics of Montana's 2004 voter initiative that legalized medical marijuana.

After the Obama administration announced in 2009 that the feds would no longer aggressively prosecute medical marijuana cases, the number of Montanans with "green cards" grew exponentially - from 7,339 in December 2009 to 26,429 last month. That's according to the state Department of Public Health and Human Services, which administers Montana's medical marijuana program.

Missoula County, with 3,985 enrolled patients, leads the state, although Gallatin and Flathead counties follow close behind.

Christ claims credit for a large number of the patients statewide, via his rolling clinics that linked would-be patients with physicians, providing hundreds of medical marijuana recommendations within a few hours.