DOGGING DEAN

Nationally, Howard Dean is viewed as being on the liberal side of the
Democratic Presidential spectrum. But a group often seen as part of the
liberal constituency, advocates of legalized medical marijuana, isn't happy
with him.

Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Medical Marijuana Project (www.mpp.org)
blames Dean for effectively killing legislation to legalize marijuana for
medical purposes last year.

A bill passed the Vermont House and, according to Mirken, "was stalled in
the Senate due to the arm-twisting" by the then-Gov. Dean. A compromise
bill set up a task force to study the issue, and according to Mirken,
"punted the whole issue for a year."

"We acknowledge that the task force was a step forward, but because of his
intervention, people in Vermont fighting AIDS or cancer risk going to
jail," Mirken said.

He said that ironically, "a lot of the advocacy and lobbying for a medical
marijuana bill comes from the gay and lesbian community, a constituency
that Governor Dean has overtly courted because of his support for civil
unions. We'd just like to see the issue addressed in the Presidential
primary campaign."

The Union Leaderis calls to Dean campaign headquarters were not returned.