Jeb Bush was a pot-smoking bully, say former classmates

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) said in the 1990s that he smoked marijuana while he was in high school, but a new profile of the likely 2016 presidential candidate paints a more detailed picture of his use of the drug.

A classmate, Peter Tibbetts, told The Boston Globe that he smoked marijuana for the first time with Bush in the woods near their dorm at the prestigious Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.

{mosads}Later, he told the newspaper, he smoked hashish with the future governor while the two of them listened to the song “Magic Carpet Ride.”

“The first time I really got stoned was in Jeb’s room,” Tibbetts told the Globe. “He had a portable stereo with removable speakers. He put on Steppenwolf for me.”

“I drank alcohol and I smoked marijuana when I was at Andover,” Bush told the Globe. “It was pretty common.”

The story comes from a lengthy profile of Bush published by the newspaper that details his time at the private boarding school, which was also attended by his father and brother, Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

It depicts Bush as a student who struggled with his studies in his early years and mostly stayed away from protests against the Vietnam War, which his father was backing.

The article also includes stories from students saying Bush, who was tall and physically imposing, was something of a bully as a high schooler.

Tibbetts told the Globe that he had helped Bush sew pajama pants belonging to a smaller boy shut so that the boy could not wear them.

Bush told the Globe that he did not remember the bullying incidents described in the story.

“I don’t believe that is true,” he said. “It was 44 years ago and it is not possible for me to remember.”

The stories are reminiscent of 2012 piece published in The Washington Post that alleged that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney had bullied a high school classmate he perceived to be gay by having others restrain him while Romney cut his hair.