SINGER'S DRUG CASE DISMISSED IN COURT

KEALAKEKUA, Hawai'i -- The Big Island marijuana possession case
against singer Whitney Houston is over.

It would have ended earlier, but her two attorneys from Honolulu and
New Jersey insisted on a hearing yesterday, even though Deputy
Prosecutor Melvin Fujino filed a motion Monday to have the petty
misdemeanor charge dropped. Just before yesterday's court session, the
attorneys decided not to go through with the hearing after all.

The dismissal was filed after Houston met the conditions of a plea
deferral that she pay $4,000 in fees and donations and undergo a drug
abuse assessment. The assessment done last month concluded the singer
was not in need of treatment.

Houston was charged after a small amount of marijuana was found in her
handbag while she was waiting to catch a flight at the Kona airport
Jan. 11, 2000.