JEB BUSH WEEPS AS DRUG REMARKS TURN PERSONAL

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., April 30 - Gov. Jeb Bush cried today at a drug
conference as he thanked audience members for their support while he and
his wife dealt with the drug-related arrest of their daughter.

Facing about 400 drug counselors, program directors and law enforcement
officials, Mr. Bush said the aftermath of the Jan. 29 arrest of his
daughter Noelle, 24, on charges she tried to use a false prescription to
buy the antianxiety drug Xanax, had been "tough personally."

"I want to thank you, on behalf of my wife, for your prayers and for your
quiet counseling in the last few months about our daughter Noelle," the
governor said.

He paused. "I knew I was going to do this," he said, his voice cracking.

Mr. Bush's comments came at the opening of the annual Statewide Drug
Summit, where officials announced that the drug abuse rate in Florida had
dropped to 5.5 percent, from 8 percent in 2000. Jim McDonough, director of
Florida's Office of Drug Control, said the governor and his wife, Columba,
who also attended, were committed to a goal of seeing the rate halved by 2005.

"He was way out in front of this issue even before it became a family
matter," Mr. McDonough said. The governor declined to say whether his
daughter was still in a residential drug treatment program. "She's doing
good," he said.

Local prosecutors have said they expect to send Ms. Bush, once she
completes her treatment, to a drug court program, where she will meet
frequently with a judge and have to pass periodic drug tests. If she
successfully completes the program, the fraud charge will be dropped.