Sen. Rand Paul called out former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush Sunday over his stance on marijuana.
“I think it’s hypocritical that someone who used marijuana as a kid and now has harsh laws over it,” the Kentucky Republican said Sunday on Fox News.
Bush, a leading contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, told the Boston Globe earlier this year he drank alcohol and smoked marijuana when he attended the elite, expensive Phillips Andover prep school. But he has consistently opposed efforts to legalize marijuana or loosen penalties on the popular intoxicant.
Paul, a possible challenger to Bush in his quest to become the third member of his immediate family to occupy the oval office since 1989, has been critical of Bush’s stance on marijuana in the past.
“This is a guy who now admits he smoked marijuana but he wants to put people in jail who do,” Paul told The Hill in January, upon learning of the Boston Globe article. “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.”
Florida voters could have approved medical marijuana in November. Bush issued a statement in August urging Florida voters to reject the measure, which eventually failed.
The marijuana issue is sure to be a big one in 2016, as more states move to legalize it for both recreational or medicinal use. Paul and Bush will almost certainly be going up against each other in the coming debates.
Bush has the advantage on Paul right now, according to a RealClearPolitics average of polls. With 15.8 points, Bush is second, compared with Paul, who is in fifth with 8.2 points.
