Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Friday seized on a Boston Globe report about Jeb Bush’s prep school days to criticize the former Florida governor’s “hypocrisy” on marijuana policy.
“You would think he’d have a little more understanding then,” Paul told The Hill of Bush’s reported marijuana use as a student at the elite Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.
“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 added. “Had he been caught at Andover, he’d have never been governor, he’d probably never have a chance to run for the presidency.”
Bush admitted his youthful marijuana use to the Globe. The newspaper also spoke with some of the potential Republican presidential candidate’s former classmates, who described him as a stoner who was indifferent to politics at the time and allegedly bullied smaller students.
Paul, who’s made moves indicating that he’s mulling a 2016 presidential bid of his own, criticized Bush for opposing marijuana legalization even for medical use, according to The Hill.
Asked last year whether he smoked marijuana as a student, Paul replied “Let’s just say I wasn’t a choir boy when I was in college.”
