The first-ever exhibition at a major metropolitan museum to focus on marijuana in California today opens April 16 and runs through September 25, 2016 at the Oakland Museum of California. Altered State: Marijuana in California, sponsored in part by the Oakland Museum Women’s Board, is part of the statewide discussions leading up to the November election, when a legalization voter initiative is expected to be on the state ballot.

“We hope this exhibit encourages people to think critically about marijuana, the research available on it, and how it is presented in the media,” said Associate Curator of Natural Sciences Sarah Seiter. “Our goal is that this exhibition will help people have informed conversations with their families and friends about what type of marijuana policy is right for California.” The museum is located at 1000 Oak Street, at 10th Street, in Oakland, one block from the Lake Merritt BART station and not far from the historic Oaksterdam District that Oaksterdam University and launched the 2010 legalization initiative was on the state ballot, Prop 19.

420 Archives Board Member Chris Conrad and his wife, Mikki Norris, received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2015 Emerald Cup in Sonoma County, California, and gave a shout out to the 420 Archive during his acceptance speech and urged people to participate in and support its oral histories project.

The couple has been a key player in the reform movement for 27 years and was at the center of many reforms; helping launch the modern hemp industries and first president of the Hemp Industry Association, the passage of the first medical marijuana law Prop 215, working on the first law immunizing cannabis sales SB 420, cited in major state Supreme Court rulings and author and publisher of landmark books from Hemp: Lifeline to the Future to Shattered Lives: Portraits from America’s Drug War to Cannabis Yields and Dosage. They designed and curated the Hash, Marihuana and Hemp Museum from 1993 into the first decade of this Century. Conrad is a professor at Oaksterdam University and curator of the Oaksterdam Cannabis Museum and the US Hemp Museum. His latest book is The Newbie’s Guide to Cannabis and the Industry with Jeremy Daw.