Pubdate: Wed, 11 Sep 2002
Source: Lincoln Journal Star (NE)
Copyright: 2002 Lincoln Journal Star
Contact:  http://www.journalstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/561
Author: Associated Press

POLICE SAY COCAINE FOUND ON JEB BUSH'S DAUGHTER

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Gov. Jeb Bush's 25-year-old daughter was found with what 
was believed to be crack cocaine at a drug rehab center where she was 
undergoing court-ordered treatment, police said.

If confirmed, it would be Noelle Bush's second lapse since entering rehab 
and could result in jail.

Police were called late Monday to the Center for Drug Free Living in 
Orlando, where workers gave them a 0.2-gram rock they said they found in 
Noelle Bush's shoe, Sgt. Orlando Rolon said.

The rock tested positive for cocaine, but Bush was not immediately arrested 
because police could not get rehab center staff members to give sworn 
statements, Rolon said.

A patient had called police, but staffers tried to persuade them to let the 
center follow its standard policy of handling the matter internally, Rolon 
said.

The center's president and chief executive, Jerry Feulner, declined comment 
Tuesday, citing privacy concerns.

After a meeting in Orlando, the governor said his daughter must "resolve in 
her heart and mind that she needs to change."

"She needs to accept responsibility. She knows that we love her. She knows 
a whole lot of people care for her, but it is up to her. There are no 
excuses," Jeb Bush said.

Noelle Bush was arrested in January at a pharmacy drive-through window for 
allegedly trying to buy the anti-anxiety drug Xanax with a fraudulent 
prescription. She was admitted to the treatment center a month later.

In July, she was found with prescription drugs that had been taken from a 
cabinet at the rehab center. She spent three days in jail.

A state attorney's office spokesman said if Bush is charged with drug 
possession, she could be kicked out of the treatment program and prosecuted 
on the fraudulent-prescription charge, punishable by up to five years in 
prison and a $5,000 fine. Possession of less than 10 grams of cocaine 
carries the same penalty.
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