FOUR-TWENTY: THE BILL WITH OH SO MANY MEANINGS

SACRAMENTO - Anyone with experience on the fringes of mainstream culture
[or in a college dorm] should appreciate the innuendo of SB 420, which is
currently making its way through the state Legislature.

The measure, by Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose, seeks to correct what
some see as deficiencies in California's medicinal marijuana law. The bill
would amend the statute, found under Health and Safety Code ?[11362.5, to
establish statewide standards for medicinal marijuana users and issue them
identification cards.

It's a serious bill and an idea that has been proposed several times since
1999, when Attorney General Bill Lockyer created a task force to implement
the medicinal marijuana law, passed by voters in 1996 as Proposition 215.

By creating a statewide system, supporters hope to cut down on the number
of arrests of medicinal users by cities and counties that aren't as open to
the idea of sick people smoking marijuana as authorities are in, say, San
Francisco.

The innuendo is in the bill number. "420" - pronounced "four-twenty," never
"four hundred and twenty" - is slang used by marijuana users and usually
means, "Hey, it's time to go smoke."

The origins of the term are a bit foggy. Some believe the number is
California Penal Code for marijuana possession [not true] or police radio
code [also untrue]. A few years ago, the San Francisco Chronicle, citing
High Times magazine, traced the phrase back to a group of high-schoolers in
San Rafael.

April 20 has also now become an important day for activists, including
supporters of California's medicinal statute.

Usually, bill numbers have nothing to do with what's inside. They're handed
out sequentially as measures cross the clerk's desk in each house.

Occasionally, legislators make special requests. For the record,
Vasconcellos' office won't say one way or the other whether the senator
specifically asked for 420 in the Legislature.