Bush’s niece investigated over cocaine

Published September 11, 2002

ORLANDO, Sept 10: Noelle Bush, the daughter of Florida Governor Jeb Bush and a niece of US President George Bush, was under investigation on Tuesday for cocaine possession while attending a drug treatment centre, Orlando police said.

Noelle Bush, 25, has had several brushes with the law over drugs this year and is serving a mandatory term at a drug rehabilitation center in Orlando.

Police were called to the center on Monday evening to investigate a complaint that Noelle Bush “was in possession of two grams of a small, white rock substance” and a field test showed it was cocaine, spokesman Sgt. Orlando Rolon said.

The matter remained under investigation and Noelle Bush has not been charged.

Noelle Bush spent three days in jail in July after violating the terms of a drug treatment program. The treatment was ordered after she was arrested in the state capital Tallahassee in January for allegedly trying to buy the anti-anxiety drug Xanax using a false prescription.

Governor Jeb Bush, who is campaigning for re-election, was unaware of the latest incident involving his daughter until he arrived at his office in the state capital on Tuesday morning after visiting the Republican Party headquarters. “This is a private issue, as it relates to my daughter and myself and my wife,” Bush told reporters.—Reuters