George W. Bush on Drugs President of the United States, Former Republican Governor (TX)

Sub-sections under Drugs:
• Alcoholism
• Other issues under Drugs

Afghans wanted roads; Bush wanted aerial poppy eradication

Hamid Karzai is a proud man, and, as had been the case in my encounter with him the year before, he tended to emphasize the positive. But it was frustrating as he declared problem after problem to be under control. "We're making real progress with the governors on poppy eradication," he said, a statement belied by the estimates of numerous monitoring organizations. "All we need are som alternative crops--maybe pomegranates--for them to grow," he continued, only to note that the road network didn't allow for the transport of perishable fruits and vegetables to market. "So we need roads, roads, roads--as quickly as possible," he added.

Canceled Bolivian trade for failing counter-narcotics

To punish Bolivians, the Bush administration canceled trade preferences, threatening tens of thousands of jobs, on the pretext that Bolivia was not cooperating with US counter-narcotic efforts. In the real world, the UN estimates that Bolivia's coca crop increased 5% in 2007, as compared with 26% increase in Colombia, the terror state that is Washington's closest regional ally and the recipient of enormous military aid.

As discussed earlier, "drug wars" are curious affairs. The same is true of condemnation (and decertification) for alleged noncompliance with US demands on counter-narcotic efforts.

Former bad habits are message to learn from experience

Considered hypocritical for hard line on cocaine after using

"The media won't let go of these ridiculous cocaine rumors," I heard Bush say. "You know, the truth is I honestly don't remember whether I tried it or not. We had some pretty wild parties back in the day, and I just don't remember."

As I worked closely with Pres. Bush, I would come to believe that sometimes he convinces himself to believe what suits his needs at the moment. Bush has a way of falling back on the hazy memory defense. Bush rationalizes it as being acceptable because he is not stating unequivocally anything that could be proven false.

In other words, being evasive is not the same as lying in Bush's mind. The former is acceptable, but the latter is not.

Nov. 2000: DUI revelation probably cost Bush popular vote

Bush said that the DUI story was, in essence, correct. "I've often times said that years ago I made some mistakes," Bush said. "I occasionally drank too much. I did on that night. I was pulled over. I admitted to the policeman that I had been drinking. I paid the fine. I regretted that it happened. I learned my lesson."

He had not disclosed the DUI conviction publicly before because he did not want his daughters to know about it.

What impact did the DUI story have on the 2000 election? Karl Rove believed the revelation was responsible for the Republican loss of Maine, where the news had originated, as well as the loss of enough support nationally to cost Bush the popular vote & send the election into overtime

2006: Asked Mexican president to overturn drug legalization

Knowing that the Mexican law was a public relations disaster, President Bush decided that this time he would intervene and ask President Fox not to sign the drug law. Reluctantly, President Fox agreed, but only after the whole world got a direct view into how deeply Mexico had descended into the drug culture. If the Mexican legislature has no problem with Mexican citizens using drugs, then certainly the Mexican legislature has no problems with Mexican drug cartels expanding their market into the US.

Congressional limit on troops in Colombia is “advisory” only

Dec. 23, 2004: Forbids US troops in Colombia from participating in any combat against rebels, except in cases of self defense. Caps the number of US troops allowed in Colombia at 800.

Bush’s signing statement: Only the president, as commander in chief, can place restrictions on the use of US armed forces, so the law will be construed ‘’as advisory in nature.“

Never denied using illegal drugs, just "hard drugs"

George's sister-in-law alleged that W. had snorted cocaine with one of his brothers at Camp David during the time their father was President. "Not once," she said, "but many times."

George never denied using illegal drugs. In 1999 he swore to key political supporters that he had never used "hard drugs," by which he meant that he had never shot up heroin. He admitted to "youthful mistakes." Running for national office, he carefully crafted his response to fall within the federal guidelines for public officials. "As I understand it," he said in 1999, "the current FBI form asks the question, 'Did somebody use drugs within the last 7 years?' and I will be glad to answer that question: 'No.'" He refused to answer any more questions.

Aggressive drug education, treatment & enforcement

$23 million more for drug-testing in schools

Use of performance-enhancing steroids sends wrong message

$600M plan help 300,000 addicts via vouchers

Use faith-based programs for addicted Americans

Turned from alcoholism by power of prayer

Bush seldom refers to his drinking days & almost never acknowledges how close he came to wasting his life altogether. Although he was born to wealth and privilege, up until 1992 his career was a study in failure.

In that confessional conversation, Bush told the clergymen that his favorite psalm was Psalm 27, one of the Bible’s most searing statements of loneliness and remorse.

There is nothing divine about the American political process. Yet leadership remains the greatest mystery in politics. Bush was hardly the obvious man for the job. But by a very strange fate, he turned out to be the right man.

$2.8B more for Drug War, for state treatment & abroad

Clinton has requested $19.26 billion for antidrug measures in the fiscal 2001 budget, and has increased the drug-fighting budget more than $6 billion since 1993. A Bush aide said the governor’s five-year, $2.8 billion plan would be in addition to the current baseline budget laid out by the Clinton White House. Gore is proposing antidrug measures that would cost $5.3 billion over 10 years.

Among Bush’s proposals are providing $1 billion to states for treatment programs and conducting a state-by-state inventory of treatment needs and capacity, and increasing funding for the Western Hemisphere Drug Elimination Act by $1 billion over 5 years.

Clinton-Gore drug policy is inconsistent and has failed

Gore aides dismissed the Bush statistics, saying they did not take the overall picture into account. Since 1992, the number of drug users ages 25 to 34 has dropped 39%, and drug use by teenagers ages 12 to 17 declined 21% between 1997 and 1999, a Gore spokesman said: He added, “Al Gore and this administration proposed the largest antidrug budget ever and under this administration drug arrests are up while drug use is down.”

1968: Anti-drug poster boy for Air National Guard

Feds must help border counties fight drug traffickers

Supports military package to Colombia to fight drug supply

Stronger penalties for first time cocaine possession

Full background checks on drug use for all appointees

Parents make up for past by warning kids against drugs

Supports tough drug laws as well as drug education programs.

Only a change on the inside allowed quitting alcohol

"Of course I can," came my indignant response. Then I thought back over the previous week. I went on racking my memory for a single day over the past few weeks; then the past month; then longer. I could not remember one. Drinking had become a habit.

I have a habitual personality. I smoked cigarettes for about nine years. I quit smoking by dipping snuff. I quit that by chewing long-leaf tobacco.

In 1986, after my 40th birthday dinner, I awoke with a mean hangover. I told Laura I would never have another drink. She looked at me like I was still running on alcohol fumes. Then she said, "That's good, George."

I knew what she was thinking. I had talked about quitting before, and nothing had come of it. What she didn't know was that this time I had changed on the inside--and that would enable me to change my behavior forever.

1976: DUI resulted in $150 fine & no driving in Maine

A local policeman thought it was odd that I was going about 10 mph and had 2 wheels on the shoulder. When I failed the straight-line walk, he took me to the station. I was guilty and told the authorities so.

I was also embarrassed. I had made a serious mistake. I was fortunate I hadn't done any harm to my passengers, other drivers, or myself I paid a $150 fine and did not drive in Maine for the proscribed period. The case was closed. Or so I thought.

That fall, I started thinking seriously about settling down. The DUI was part of it, but the feeling had been building for months. My rootles ways were getting a little old. So was I. The big 3-0 had come in the summer. I had pledged that I would spend my first ten years after college experiencing a lot and not getting tied down. That was a promise I had kept. But the decade was almost up.

1995: Should have disclosed DUI during Texas jury duty

Politically, it would not have been a problem to reveal the DUI that day. The next election was two years away, and I had quit drinking. I decided not to raise the DUI for one reason: my girls. Barbara and Jenna would start driving soon. I worried that disclosing my DUI would undermine the stern lectures I had been giving them about drinking and driving. I didn't want them to say, "Daddy did it and he turned out okay, so we can, too."

Avoided DUI publicity to keep daughters from their own DUI

At a hastily-called news conference on Nov. 2, 2000, Bush admitted everything, saying, "It's an accurate story. I'm no proud of that. I regretted that it happened. I learned my lesson."

So why did Bush not talk about it publicly? As he explained after the arrest was revealed, "I made the decision that as a dad I didn't want my girls doing the kinds of things I did.

2000 election eve DUI revelation got campaign off-message

The timing of the DUI disclosure--4 days before Election Day, with the candidates tied in the polls--was suspicious.

Did this last-minute revelation of Bush's decades-old DUI hurt? Yes, a lot. First, it knocked us off at a critical time. The campaign was swamped with questions about Bush's past drinking, if there had been other arrests, whether he had bee truthful with reporters before, even if he was drinking again now. This was not a good note on which to close a nearly two-year bid for the presidency.

Second, we had made a big issue of Gore's credibility and now we had a problem with Bush's. Many Americans had been drawn by his pledge to restore integrity to the Oval Office and now he had surprised them with a DUI.

A large number of voters--especially evangelicals and social conservatives--decided not to vote, taking votes away from Bush.

2001: Both daughters arrested for alcohol possession

For Barbara, it was a first offense. But two weeks before, Jenna had pleaded no contest to possession of alcohol. In response to the new charge, Jenna pleaded no contest to misrepresenting her age. Her driver's license was suspended for a month. She paid a $600 fine, and got three months of deferred adjudication, a form of probation, plus 36 hours of community service. Barbara also pleaded no contest and was sentenced to deferred adjudication. Both had to attend alcohol awareness class as well.

A “carefree lad” who drank but never did drugs

“I’ve never known him to take drugs, and he’s never talked to me about taking drugs,” his college roommate said. I’ve never been with him when he was taking drugs. He drank in college, and he drank as an adult. I never saw him drink to excess any more than anyone drinks to excess in college.

I was unmarried and single,“ Bush would latter say. ”I deny every a

Spiritual reawakening ended beer and bourbon consumption

1985: Stopped drinking when reconfigured by deepening faith

Like many extroverts, he drank because he thought it extended him: "Drinking magnified aspects of my personality that probably don't need to be larger than they already are. After [one particular] night of drinking, I came back to the hotel room and told Laura I was through." He looked in the mirror and said, "Someday, I might embarrass my father." And he never took another drink.

The ability to follow through on his commitment reveals the kind of man that faith was making him. Whether he quit initially because he found it something he could not control or so as not to embarrass his father, the all-important point is that he found the discipline to serve a cause greater than himself. He made a major, life-changing move based on something that heretofore had been lacking in his life: purpose.

Changed license in 1995 to avoid DUI arrest disclosure

Also in August 1999, the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles told MSNBC.com that changing one’s driver’s license number was “highly unusual” and that it is done only when the holder of the license can prove that someone is using the license number for illegal activities. Repeated calls to Bush at the time were unanswered, until [they stated] Bush’s license number was changed for “security measures.” He declined to comment further.

Quit drinking when alcohol started to compete with family

Identifies with former addicts based on former alcoholism

Did not use drugs for the last 25 years

Bush’s responses on drug use:
• “I made some mistakes years ago, but I learned from my mistakes.” [8/18/99]
• “As I understand it, the current FBI form asks the question, ‘Did somebody use drugs within the last 7 years?’ and I will be glad to answer that question, and the answer is no.” [8/19]
• “Not only could I pass the background check and the standards applied to today’s White House, but I could have passed the background check when my dad was President, a 15-year period.” [8/19]

Encourages abstinence from tobacco, drugs or alcohol.

More federal funding for all aspects of Drug War.

To reduce the presence of illegal drugs, drug-related organized crime, and the adverse effects of drug and alcohol abuse in society requires a comprehensive strategy involving federal, state, and local governments. The Governors believe that one of the most severe public health threats is the recent rise in substance abuse among children.
• The Federal Role
  The profits from illicit drug trafficking can be effectively used to help state efforts to dry up the demand for these drugs. The nation’s Governors urge the President and Congress to fully fund drug and alcohol abuse education, drug courts, treatment, prevention, and law enforcement efforts, including the initiative to combat and clean up methamphetamine production laboratories, at the state and local levels of government.
• Intensified Eradication and Interdiction
  Federal funding for use of the National Guard in drug and border enforcement deserves continued support. The Governors urge the President and Congress to utilize the role of U.S. military forces in interdiction efforts.
• High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program.
  The HIDTA program provides additional federal funds to those areas to help federal, state, and local law enforcement organizations invest in infrastructure and joint initiatives to dismantle drug trafficking organizations. Governors support the HIDTA initiative and urge Congress to continue supporting the program.
• The Federal Role in Reducing International Drug Trafficking.
  The nation’s Governors urge the Administration and Congress to significantly tighten procedures for certifying foreign countries for eligibility to receive U.S. aid based on their cooperation with U.S. surveillance, interdiction, and eradication efforts.
• Drug Legalization
  The nation’s Governors believe illicit drug legalization is not a viable alternative, either as a philosophy or as a practical reality.

Rated F by VOTE-HEMP, indicating an anti-hemp voting record.

VOTE HEMP is a non-profit organization dedicated to the acceptance of and free market for Industrial Hemp. Industrial Hemp is non-psychoactive low THC varieties of the cannabis sativa plant. Currently, it is illegal for U.S. farmers to grow Industrial Hemp because it is improperly classified as a "drug" under the Controlled Substances Act. Since changes in law require shifts in thinking and this requires education in the facts, our primary goal is the education of legislators and regulators, farmers and businesses, students and other concerned citizens.