Sen. Rand Paul has dinged former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on his anti-marijuana stance before, but Paul on Friday took his message to Bush’s home turf.
The Kentucky Republican, who was in Florida to speak at the Orange County GOP’s Lincoln Day Dinner, criticized Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for their inflexible opposition to relaxing marijuana laws, including legalized medicinal use.
“In Florida, you have two prominent people who might run for president who can’t even come to support medical marijuana,” Paul said in an interview with the East Orlando Post. “I know a man whose daughter has 200 seizures every day, so many that it can stunt the growth of his daughter’s brain. He wants to use cannabis oil, in addition to traditional medicine. Those in Florida who are against medical marijuana would actually put him in prison if he did that in your state.”
“As Republicans, we need to show a little bit more compassion for people,” Paul added.
Paul has emerged as a strong proponent among Republicans for federal sentencing reform that would relax drug laws and prevent jail time for using marijuana.
Some would-be Republican candidates for president have recently publicly admitted past marijuana use, including Sen. Ted Cruz and Bush. But Paul called Bush’s admission “hypocrisy.”
“This is a guy who now admits he smoked marijuana but he wants to put people in jail who do,” Paul recently told The Hill. “You would think he’d have a little more understanding, then.”
Rubio, for his part, has to date dodged the question of whether he has used marijuana, but last year said legally allowing it “is not good for the country.”
