Pubdate: Wed, 11 Sep 2002
Source: Independent  (UK)
Copyright: 2002 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.independent.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/209
Author: David Usborne, in New York
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

JEB BUSH'S DAUGHTER FOUND WITH COCAINE

Noelle Bush, the daughter of Florida's Governor, Jeb Bush, was found in
possession of cocaine while being treated at a drug rehabilitation centre,
police in Orlando said yesterday.

A spokesman confirmed that officers were called to the rehabilitation centre
on Monday after being told a white substance had been found on Ms Bush. He
said the niece of the President "was in possession of two grams of a small,
white, rock substance".

Ms Bush, 25, had been arrested in January after trying to buy the
anti-anxiety drug Xanax in Tallahassee, the state capital, without a legal
prescription. She was not arrested on Monday. Police said they had to log
sworn statements that she had been in possession.

Governor Bush said, as he arrived at his Tallahassee office: "This is a
private issue, as it relates to my daughter and myself and my wife. The road
to recovery is a rocky one for a lot of people who have this kind of
problem."

Mr Bush, the brother of the President, is immersed in a campaign to be
re-elected in November. Florida residents were voting in a primary election
yesterday to select the Democrat to challenge him.

The primary was among the mostly closely watched across America. Early polls
showed a dead heat between the former US attorney general Janet Reno, who
has campaigned to challenge Governor Bush, and her rival, Bill McBride, a
Tampa lawyer.

Ms Reno, who served under President Bill Clinton, said: "I feel it in my
bones tonight we're going to win."
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