Jeb Bush Admits To Smoking Pot During Second GOP Primary Debate

Jeb Bush came clean about smoking marijuana as a teen during the Republican primary debate in California Wednesday night.

Jeb Bush Admits Smoking Pot

Jake Tapper engaged the Republican primary candidates in a debate about marijuana legalization by referring to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie‘s staunch opposition to the movement in America during CNN’s debate.

“Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization,” Tapper said. “Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, ‘If you’re getting high in Colorado today,’ where marijuana has been legalized, ‘enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana.’ Will you?”

Rand Paul, a libertarian, responded by pointing out that the current laws regarding pot use are disproportionally applied against poor Americans. He also, without explicitly naming names, called out Bush for being a hypocrite on his stance on marijuana.

“I think one of the great problems, and what the American people don’t like about politics is hypocrisy. People who have one standards for others and not for themselves,” said Paul. “There’s at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to jail for this are poor people – often African-Americans and Hispanic people – and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren’t.”

Bush, realizing that Paul was referencing him, decided to admit to some recreational drug use in his youth. “Forty years ago I smoked marijuana and I admit it. I’m sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people,” Bush said, joking adding, “My mom’s not happy that I just did.”

Bush’s Twitter account followed up with an apology to his mother, former First Lady Barbara Bush.

Sorry Mom

— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) September 17, 2015