GOV. BUSH'S DAUGHTER BUSTED FOR 'CRACK'

ORLANDO, Florida -- Gov. Jeb Bush's 25-year-old daughter was found with
what was believed to be crack cocaine at a rehabilitation centre, police
said yesterday.

If confirmed, it would be her second lapse since entering court-ordered
drug treatment.

Police were called to the Centre for Drug-Free Living in Orlando late
Monday, where workers gave them a "white, rocklike substance" they said
they found in Noelle Bush's shoe, said police Sgt. Orlando Rolon.

The 0.2-gram rock tested positive for cocaine in a police field test, but
Bush wasn't immediately arrested because police couldn't obtain sworn
statements from people at the centre, Rolon said.

Police said staffers at the centre tried to persuade the officer to let the
matter be handled in-house and didn't co-operate by providing statements.
The officer originally had been summoned by a patient, police said.

A spokesman for the centre, Joan Ballard, refused to comment.

Possession of any amount of cocaine is a felony.

The investigation will continue, said Rolon, who said Noelle Bush had not
been interviewed.

The governor, asked about his daughter before going into a Florida cabinet
meeting in Tallahassee, said he wouldn't discuss her situation.

"This is a private issue as it relates to my daughter and myself and my
wife," he said. "The road to recovery is a rocky one for a lot of people
that have this kind of problem. I don't have any details about what
happened. I just found out."

Noelle Bush was arrested in January at a Tallahassee pharmacy drive-through
window for allegedly trying to buy the anti-anxiety drug Xanax with a
fraudulent prescription.

She was admitted to the treatment centre a month later, with the
possibility charges would be dropped if she completed the program.

But in July she was found to be in contempt of court because a worker at
the treatment centre found her carrying prescription pills which belonged
to another worker. Circuit Judge Reginald Whitehead sent her to jail for
three days.

Court spokesman Karen Levey said if Noelle Bush violates a drug court
contract, Whitehead could sanction her with more jail time.

But State Attorney's Office spokesman Randy Means said that if Bush is
charged with drug possession, she could be kicked out of her treatment
program. She could then face punishment for the Tallahassee crime as well
as any Orlando case.

Drug prescription fraud is a third-degree felony that carries a maximum
penalty of five years in prison and a $5,000 US fine.

But as a first offender, Noelle Bush probably would face a considerably
lesser penalty.