Posted on 01/30/2015 9:50:27 PM PST by Plummz
DALLAS — Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) accused Jeb Bush of hypocrisy after The Boston Globe reported the former Florida governor was a heavy marijuana smoker while at an elite prep school.
Bush opposed a Florida medical marijuana ballot initiative last year even though he partook liberally of the herb while in high school.
“You would think he’d have a little more understanding then,” Paul told The Hill while en route to a political event in Texas.
“He was even opposed to medical marijuana,” Paul said of Bush, a potential rival in the 2016 Republican presidential primary. “This is a guy who now admits he smoked marijuana but he wants to put people in jail who do.
“I think that’s the real hypocrisy, is that people on our side, which include a lot of people, who made mistakes growing up, admit their mistakes but now still want to put people in jail for that,” he said.
“Had he been caught at Andover, he’d have never been governor, he’d probably never have a chance to run for the presidency,” he added.
Bush told The Globe in a recent interview about his four years at Phillips Academy in Andover, one of the nation’s most prestigious prep schools, “I drank and I smoked marijuana when I was at Andover,” explaining the behavior was “pretty common.”
The Globe cited a former classmate, Peter Tibbetts, who said he first smoked marijuana with Bush and also consumed cannabis, a concentration of the plant’s resin, in Bush’s dorm room.
Tibbetts recalled Bush cranking up Steppenwolf’s “Magic Carpet Ride” on the stereo while he and his classmates got stoned.
Bush has previously acknowledged using marijuana, which he has called “stupid” and “wrong.”
He issued a statement in August urging voters to reject a proposal allowing the use of marijuana to treat debilitating diseases.
He argued it would undermine the state’s image as a “family-friendly destination for tourism and a desirable place to raise a family or retire.”
“Allowing large-scale marijuana operations to take root across Florida, under the guise of using it for medicinal purposes, runs counter to all these efforts,” he claimed.
Paul dinged Bush for now opposing the legalization of marijuana for medical use.
The Kentucky senator has spoken extensively about the need to review the efficacy of the nation’s war on drugs and reconsider harsh prison sentences and other penalties for non-violent offenders.
“I think in politics the biggest thing, the thing that voters from any part of the spectrum hate worse than anything is hypocrisy. And hypocrisy is, ‘Hey I did it and it’s okay for me because I was rich and at an elite school but if you’re poor and black or brown and live in a poor section of one of our big cities, we’re going to put you in jail and throw away the key,’” Paul said.
Paul has hinted at using marijuana in the past.
He told a Louisville television station in December that he “wasn’t a choir boy” when asked if he used the drug in college.
“Let’s just say I wasn’t a choir boy when I was in college and that I can recognize that kids make mistakes, and I can say that I made mistakes when I was a kid,” he said, according to an Associated Press report of the broadcast.
Paul introduced an amendment in July that would shield states that enact medical marijuana laws from federal prosecution. It covered 33 states including California, Kentucky and New Hampshire. He has called decade-long jail sentences for possession or sale of marijuana “ridiculous.”
Here’s the article about Jeb’s high school years — https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2015/02/01/tumultuous-four-years-phillips-academy-helped-shape-jeb-bush/q6ccyHNOtP1n6kqDokMBfK/story.html
One idiot accusing another idiot of idiocy ... how idiotic.
Geez, no Libertarian in THAT guy, huh?
Top priority stuff Rand /s
Rand Paul is such an immature punk.
Paul is clumsily trying to tap into a small coalition that will alienate a larger one.
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
The “Liberal Party” in action.
“Allowing large-scale marijuana operations to take root across Florida, under the guise of using it for medicinal purposes, runs counter to all these efforts,” he claimed.
and that’s pretty much what happens ....
Look at all the med MJ states , ppl scam the process unashamedly . And in all the legal grow states , all the growers are now feeding the illegal markets in nearby states and across the country .
Do we rally want all of America to go to pot? Given that the great majority of pot smokers are total Lib voters and do NOT support our military or a strong foreign policy .
Seems like national suicide to me
Cannabis is a plant. Hash is a concentrated form of cannabis. You would expect someone writing for The Hill to do just a bit of research and know this before writing about it.
Wait, a professional political reporter is a blithering idiot? I’m shocked.
And Rand comes out swinging early in an effort to pull democrat voters away from Jeb!
Sorry Rand, but a Pothead Coalition can’t get you to the White House. Most of your voters will be too stoned to get to the polls.
dWARf on drugs
I am not pro-marijuana but come on...Is this true?? This could jeopardize their growing permit in Colorado for example.
Who is John Galt? Well, it is not Rand Paul, even though he is the author’s namesake.
It implies that the people that want to sell drugs to America, might have weak morals.
Entertaining but that’s about it.
Rand, your dad is proof that drugs kill brain cells.
absolutely true
I was just talking to a guy TODAY who was telling me about some friend of his that was starting to make a lot of money selling out of state ( in WA. )
Who is monitoring volumes ? I am sure you can drive a truck thru the loopholes and those that grow it ‘legally’ now used to grow it illegally then ( or they are total newbies to growing it ) and thus they have few qualms selling illegally if they have a ready market . It’s all about the money . Wherever it comes from . This is not the only 1st hand account I have heard this from . It’s a new ‘gold rush’
Do you refer to noted science fiction author Randall Garrett?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.