DRUG CHARGE FILED AGAINST GOVERNOR'S DAUGHTER

TALLAHASSEE -- The arrest of Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter on a
prescription-fraud charge propelled her private struggle with drug use into
public view Tuesday.

Noelle Bush, 24, was arrested at a Walgreens pharmacy a few blocks from the
governor's mansion after posing as a doctor to call in a phony prescription
for Xanax, an anti-anxiety medication, police said.

The governor, who has used his office to campaign against drug abuse, said
he was "deeply saddened" by the his daughter's arrest. He and his wife,
Columba, offered little comment, asking the public and media to respect the
family's privacy.

"She's doing fine. This is a private matter," Bush said after a news
conference on the state's nursing shortage. "It's really hard for our
family, but a lot of families go through this."

Charged with a third-degree felony, Noelle Bush faces as much as five years
in prison if convicted, although law enforcement officials said that for a
first offense, probation would be more likely.

She is scheduled to make her initial court appearance Thursday before Leon
Circuit Judge Tom Bateman.

"Prescription-drug abuse is a real sleeper problem that people don't really
think much about when you're talking about drugs in Florida," said John
Daigle, executive director of the Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association.

"Obviously, though, it can touch anyone."

For Florida's governor, who appointed the state's first drug czar and is
pushing legislation to fight prescription-drug abuse, his daughter's arrest
was a jarring reminder of his daughter's problems.

Noelle Bush has taken part quietly in drug treatment and rehabilitation
programs the past few years, both in Florida and out of state, sources
close to the governor said.

Jeb Bush revealed during his 1998 campaign that one of his three children
had a short-term drug problem. That experience led Columba Bush to become
involved with Informed Families, a statewide drug- education program based
in Miami.

Associates of the governor said his daughter had been on the rebound. She
was scheduled to begin work Tuesday as an administrative assistant at
Infinity Software Development, a Tallahassee-based software company.

Infinity president Tom Lynch, who contributed $500 to the governor at a
fund-raiser earlier this month, said his staff left messages for the
governor's daughter after she failed to show up, only to find out later
about the arrest from news reports.

"She seemed like a bright, reasonable person," said Lynch, who said his
firm does 90 percent of its business with state agencies.

According to police, a woman called the Walgreens pharmacy late Monday to
ask whether a prescription had been called in for Noelle Bush. Pharmacist
Carlos Zimmerman checked the pharmacy's voice mail and heard a woman
identified as "Dr. Noel Scidmore" requesting a Xanax prescription.

Zimmerman told police the prescription sounded suspicious and that there
was no quantity mentioned. He saved the voice mail, which police described
as "shaky."

Within 20 minutes, the woman called again to check on the prescription and
Zimmerman told her he needed to know how much drug to dispense. About 10
minutes later, a caller left a voice mail message specifying an amount.

Next, Zimmerman called the answering service for Scidmore, a Tallahassee
doctor. Minutes later, the doctor's associate, Dr. Dale Wickstrom, returned
the call and told Zimmerman that Scidmore "is moving and isn't really
practicing now," according to police reports.

Wickstrom said the prescription "was a fake and to bust her," Zimmerman
told police.

When the woman called back to check on the prescription, the pharmacist
told her it would be ready in 40 minutes. When Noelle Bush reached the
drive-through window at 1 a.m., Zimmerman called police.

Bush initially denied that she tried to fraudulently obtain the Xanax
prescription. Moments later she acknowledged that the contact number for
Scidmore left on the answering machine was her phone number.

Police said her voice and that left on the answering machine seem identical.

"Bush appeared very shaky during interview, but calmed considerably after
being placed under arrest," the report stated.

She was handcuffed and taken to the Leon County Jail but later released
without bail.

Since 1995, Noelle Bush has received seven speeding tickets, been cited for
five other traffic violations and has been involved in three automobile
accidents, according to state motor-vehicle records.

At the time her father was elected governor, Noelle Bush was an art student
attending Miami-Dade Community College. She graduated from Tallahassee
Community College in 2000 and attended Florida State University last year.

She lives alone in a Tallahassee apartment complex that she moved into
about three weeks ago, leaving the governor's mansion.

Political Editor Mark Silva contributed to this report. Wire services also
were used.