High Times at the Oakland Museum

The question that's sure to arise with "Altered State; Marijuana in California," OMCA's everything-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-cannabis-but-were-afraid-to-ask show, is if it's best viewed while high.

I'm going to leave that answer to the experts, though the museum has taken the chemical bliss factor into account by issuing timed tickets; whether the mellowed out will pay attention to such practical considerations is hard to say. Under the influence or not, you'd be hard-pressed to name a place where you could find both a working Munchies vending machine stocked with Fritos and Cheetos to satisfy dope-induced cravings, and a confessional that encourages visitors to detail their sins on note cards and deposit them in a box. Testimonials from previous supplicants run from "I'm high right now" to an admission of drug use ruining a relationship. If disclosure isn't your thing, the exhibition, which is organized in a single large gallery like a science fair, has 10 booth-style installations that offer many other opportunities to express opinions and share personal experiences.

A social and cultural history of weed as well as an exploration of the controversies surrounding its legalization, including criminal prosecutions skewed by race and geography, and the impact on wildlife habitat, "Altered State" is a mix of DIY science, sociology, charts and graphs, photos, ephemera, film clips, old news footage, and even a couple of chances to spin a gimmicky "wheel of fortune" that lands on various factoids and outcomes, as in, if you become a pot entrepreneur, you could end up busted or super-rich.

The show may be scattered, a bit thin and not terribly insightful, but it's not without a sense of humor and the potential to provoke discussion. Some parents have expressed concern about bringing younger kids along, though the setting could provide a forum for touchy, otherwise difficult conversations with teenagers.

Given its hotly-debated topic and the political moment, the exhibition couldn't be more timely. However, breathing life into statistics and multiple perspectives and turning those into an engaging visual experience poses a substantial challenge that the curators and designers have gamely attempted to surmount through interactive components and displays. What the show has going for it is novelty - it's the first museum exhibition on the topic - and a sheaf of fun facts. For instance, did you know that California was the first state to outlaw marijuana (in 1913), and two years before it did so, Opium Commissioner Dr. Hamilton Wright predicted "the fiends would turn to Indian hemp?" Or that there's an order of New Age Marijuana Nuns whose members grow plants for medicinal purposes - no, they don't inhale - and that $2.7 billion have been spent at medical dispensaries, giving investors everywhere visions of another gold rush?

The entry is lined with quotes from an array of sources. Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Education, William Bennett, who can always be relied upon to weigh in with a reactionary response, wonders why anyone would want "to foster a drug that makes you stupid," while John Ehrlichman, former President Nixon's felonious henchman, theorized that marijuana and heroin use would make it easier to crack down on hippies and arrest African Americans. Miley Cyrus, who feels compelled to say more than one wants to hear, proclaims that "weed is the best drug" - since twerking, that is.

But the exhibition is most enjoyable when it zeroes in on the pop-culture embrace of and reaction to getting high. Famous, not-so-dynamic stoner duos such as Wayne and Garth, Beavis and Butthead, Harold and Kumar, and of course, the granddaddy potheads of them all, Cheech & Chong, get some wall space, but Seth Rogen is noticeably missing from a rogue's gallery that contains an academic thought or two on the stoner genre. If there was ever a time to put aside self-serious critical analysis, this is it, bud.

An interesting section titled "Evil Weed" charts the trajectory of attitudes toward the drug from 1875 through the present, from "bad to badass." Weed's legacy of wickedness helped make it the drug of choice for young rebels, Beat poets, cool cats and jazz musicians of the 1920s and 30s like Louis Armstrong, who chose "Muggles," a slang term for reefer, as the title of one of his songs. Later, dope would be adopted by flower children of the 1960s, and condemned by the Reagan administration, which advocated a duly ridiculed "just say no" policy and "family values."

Now here we are in a period of decriminalization when marijuana is touted for its medicinal properties, an industry whose proceeds can bolster revenue-starved municipalities. A display modeled on a clinical research lab examines the drug's efficacy in treating a number of maladies. Evidently, the jury is still out on epilepsy; it hasn't been shown to cure cancer, depression or pain; it does alleviate nausea; and thank heavens, it doesn't cause schizophrenia. Hey, man. It's all good.

Through Sept. 25 at the Oakland Museum of California. Info: museumca.org