​One interviewee featured in the current National Geographic pot documentary, “High On Marijuana,” has told Toke of the Town he was “manipulated and given false assurances” that the show — widely criticized in the cannabis community for its alarmist portrayal of the herb — would be an impartial look at cannabis.

I mean, come on. How are we supposed to take a supposedly “scientific” show seriously when it describes the onset of marijuana’s effects as like “terrorists taking over the brain”?

As pointed out before the show aired , the fact that the show features testimony from those who have, to quote Nat Geo, “been addicted,” was something of a red flag to those of us who were expecting an impartial viewpoint. Still, it came as a disappointment that the show turned out to be a “breathless piece of anti-pot hogwash,” as we had predicted.

​”I was first contacted by a rep from Pioneer Productions regarding making an appearance on National Geographic which was to show myself smoking, having me explain the effects it has on my comedic creativity and medical relief, and that all this would be properly explained and substantiated by expert testimony,” Michael Hayne, a stand-up comedian who is featured in the documentary as a marijuana user, told us.

“They even shot myself doing a little stand-up on the ridiculousness of our social attitudes towards pot and the inanity of the federal War On Drugs,” he said. “I frequently made mention of my official diagnosed disorder several times during the shoot and yet it did not show up in the piece.”

“Instead, the fucking marketing geniuses over at Nat Geo cleverly edited my shoot to make me look like an irresponsible stoner who is going to die,” Hayne told us. “I was told that this was going to be a ‘positive’ piece on marijuana and ‘value-neutral.’ “

“It was neither ‘positive’ nor ‘value-neutral,’ ” Hayne said. “This really confounded me since Nat Geo has presented previous specials on marijuana in a fair and impartial manner. Who knows, maybe the good people at Merck and Eli Lilly threw buckets of cash at them.”