Rand Paul slams Bush 'hypocrisy' on pot

The Hill ^ | 01/30/15 07:09 PM EST | Alexander Bolton

[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.”

[BillyBoy]

Because, y'know, there's nothing hypocritical about Rand running as the "anti-establishment Tea Party" candidate to get elected to the U.S. Senate, and then turning around and endorsing the ultimate GOP insider (Mitch McConnell) over his Tea Party rival.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

It’s true to some extent, but primarily because people simply buy it at retail stores then drive it across state lines to resell at a profit.

[sickoflibs]

RE:”Because, y’know, there's nothing hypocritical about Rand running as the “anti-establishment Tea Party” candidate to get elected to the U.S. Senate, and then turning around and endorsing the ultimate GOP insider (Mitch McConnell) over his Tea Party rival. “

Rand is playing the game. He is ambitious.

[jospehm20]

I find it amusing. I don’t particularly care for either of these guys as candidates.

[RginTN]

Note that Jeb’s pro-amnesty stance is not being challenged by Paul. That’s more serious than what Bush smoked as a teenager.

[1010RD]

We’re being funneled into voting for the lesser evil.

[nathanbedford]

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.

Yes, nothing may deter our resolute pursuit of victory after victory and triumph after triumph as we wage war on drugs. Not hypocrisy, not corruption, not distortion of the rule law, not drive-by shootings without end, not financing terrorists, not defying the expressed will of the people, not the shredding of our southern border, not defeat after defeat, nothing shall deter us, nothing until we have made criminals of every man, boy, woman and girl.

And after we win this war we can proceed to make war on cigarettes, then e cigarettes, then trans fats, and all of this after we have reinstated prohibition.

[Gene Eric]

The War on Drugs pays for pensions, pays for college, retirement, etc... Hell, it’s #ing industry.

[Gene Eric]

A proviso to my previous post...

I’m not slamming the hardworking folks paying the price for drug-related crimes. To the contrary, I completely support these LEOs.

The issue is about policy.

[nathanbedford]

Yes, it could accurately be described as the world's most successful multilevel marketing application yet devised. Not only does it succeed in multilevel marketing, but demand is created by the government, the marketeers are protected from competition by the government, price is sustained by the government's actions, the markup is astronomical… It is a dream business.

[grania]

Rand Paul is such in immature punk

I would argue that the immature punk is the one who (1) let Teri Schiavo die and (2) does display such hypocrisy about his past behavior.

[Lumper20]

Oh, the poor vs. the rich class warfare BS. I thought only progressives like Obama played that game?

[nathanbedford]

When states legalized lotto, some black leaders went on radio and television and decried the decision saying that they had just worked their way up to taking over the numbers rackets from the Italians, it was their turn, and now the government was stepping in and taking away their rightful legacy.

When I first heard it I was horrified, but one can say that they do have a point after all.

When we legalize victimless crimes (I use the phrase as it is intended, there being no targeted victim) we embark on a course of unjust prosecutions, some of that injustice inevitably has to do with race, culture, class.

So, we regard it as our patriotic right as suburbanites to drink hard liquor in our backyards while we grill but we watch with approval as our police arrest blacks for drinking out of open bottles on their front stoops. Culture defines the crime.

[Lumper20]

Rand Paul used to email me almost daily with his crazy ideas. I told him to remove me from his list as I had never signed up. Both Paul and Jeb Bush should drop out now. They are far from Presidential.

[trebb]

I guess Rand doesn’t believe that those who have tried drugs and seen/experienced the ill effects, should have an opinion on whether or not drugs are good for you...the drugs have a right to be legalized.

[sitetest]

Why is it hypocrisy to recognize that one’s behavior - especially previous behavior - is or was wrong and refuse to accept one’s bad behavior as good?

[HiTech RedNeck]

Both are on one-track roads, just different ones

[HiTech RedNeck]

Many (like I) go libertarian for medical use, which isn’t what Jeb got involved with. He got into puffing grass on a lark.

Still, a pressing question is why do people poison themselves. It isn’t just because we have failed to ban all poisons.

[HiTech RedNeck]

And I mean on theory... I haven’t experienced anything for which I have considered it apt to consume pot as a medical remedy. So I have consumed no pot to date.

[rrrod]

Paul and his mindless followers can slam Bush all they want LOL..I wont vote for either Bush or Paul!