George W. Bush substance abuse controversy

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Allegations of substance abuse have arisen during the political career of George W. Bush. Bush has admitted to abusing alcohol until he was age 40. Some critics have suggested that he used illegal drugs (cocaine and/or marijuana), and that his speeches and actions as President of the United States reflect his tendency toward substance abuse (see Dry drunk syndrome).[1][2][3]

1 Alcohol
- 1.1 Rumors of, and speculation about, continued drinking
- 1.2 "Dry drunk"
2 Illegal drugs
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Alcohol

Bush has described his days before his religious conversion in his 40s as his "nomadic" period and "irresponsible youth" and admitted to drinking "too much" in those years. In Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President by James Hatfield, Bush is quoted as saying that "alcohol began to compete with my energies ... I'd lose focus". Although Bush states that he was not an alcoholic, he has acknowledged that he was "drinking too much" (as reported by Nicholas Kristof in How Bush Came to Tame His Inner Scamp, The New York Times, July 29, 2000), and that he couldn't remember a day when he hadn't had a drink, including his stay at Philips Academy, where not only was he underage but alcohol was prohibited on campus, as well as at Yale where, conversely, "hard drinking" was considered a badge of honor (as reported in Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President by James Hatfield).

Bush's drinking may not have caused problems were it not for his tendency to become excessively uninhibited, according to reports of friends. In the article referenced above, Kristof quotes Bush's cousin Elsie Walker as saying, "He was a riot. But afterward, when you're older, that can wear thin", and gives the example of Bush asking a "proper" female friend of his parents at a family cocktail party, "So, what's sex like after 50, anyway?"

In December, 1966, he was arrested for disorderly conduct after he and some friends had "a few beers" and stole a Christmas wreath from a hotel. [4] The charges were later dropped.
On September 4, 1976, Bush was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol near his family's summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. He admitted his guilt, was fined $150, and had his driving license in the state suspended for two years, implying two prior convictions. [The White House had claimed 30 days, the document shows two years.] [5] This incident did not become public knowledge until it was reported in the press in the week before the 2000 election.

The most notorious episode, reported in numerous diverse sources including U.S. News & World Report, November 1, 1999, Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq by Robert Parry, First Son: George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty by Bill Minutaglio, and W: Revenge of the Bush Dynasty by Elizabeth Mitchell, has 26 year old George W. Bush, visiting his parents in Washington, D. C. over the Christmas vacation in 1972 shortly after the death of his grandfather, taking his 16 year old brother Marvin out drinking. On the way home, George lost control of the car and ran over a garbage can, but continued home with the can wedged noisily under the car. When his father, George H. W. Bush, called him on the carpet for not only his own behavior but for exposing his younger brother to risk, George W., still under the influence, retorted angrily, "I hear you're looking for me. You wanna go mano a mano right here?" Before the elder Bush could reply, the situation was defused by brother Jeb, who took the opportunity to surprise his father with the happy news that George W. had been accepted to Harvard Business School. ^{[citation needed]}

Bush has said he gave up drinking after waking up with a hangover after his 40th birthday celebration: "I quit drinking in 1986 and haven't had a drop since then." He ascribed the change in part to a 1985 meeting with Reverend Billy Graham, after which he began serious bible study, as well as to gentle but firm pressure from his wife, Laura. [6] [7] [8] Friends recall that Bush said nothing of his decision, even to Laura, until many weeks later when they realized that he had not had so much as a single beer in the interim.

More recently, an Associated Press story from November, 2005, described Bush's drinking of "fermented mare's milk" during a photo opportunity in Mongolia.[9]

[edit] Rumors of, and speculation about, continued drinking

An excerpt from a video shot at a 1992 wedding and shown on the Internet during the 2000 election showed Bush drinking from a plastic bottle while having an unusually frank conversation with a reporter.[10] This video has circulated with the suggestion that it shows Bush drunk after he supposedly quit alcohol.

The September 21, 2005 issue of the tabloid National Enquirer cited unidentified "family sources" as saying that in the wake of the crisis caused by Hurricane Katrina, Bush had been caught by his wife drinking. The article also quoted Justin Frank, a Washington D.C. psychiatrist and author of Bush on the Couch, saying, "I do think that Bush is drinking again. Alcoholics who are not in any program, like the President, have a hard time when stress gets to be great."[11]

[edit] "Dry drunk"

Despite Bush's statement that he was not an alcoholic, the question of whether Bush's behavior indicated alcoholism, as well as what that would mean for his current and future behavior, has been raised by Bush critics and analysts, most notably Katherine van Wormer, Professor of Social Work at the University of Northern Iowa and co-author of Addiction Treatment: A Strengths Perspective. In support of the hypothesis that Bush could have been clinically diagnosed as alcoholic, Van Wormer describes "years of binge drinking starting in college, at least one conviction for DUI in 1976 in Maine, and one arrest before that for a drunken episode involving theft of a Christmas wreath."

In Addiction, Brain Damage and the President: "Dry Drunk" Syndrome and George W. Bush (Katherine van Wormer, CounterPunch, October 11, 2002), van Wormer goes on to speculate over whether Bush is an example of a "dry drunk", a slang term used by Alcoholics Anonymous and substance abuse counselors to describe a recovering alcoholic who is no longer drinking, but who has not confronted the dysfunctional basic cognitive patterns that led to addiction; they use the term because they feel that such an individual is someone "who is no longer drinking . . . but whose thinking is clouded," not truly "sober". In her opinion, Bush displays the telltale characteristics of grandiose behavior, rigid, judgmental outlook, impatience, childish and irresponsible behavior, irrational rationalisation, projection, and overreaction. [12]. She concluded that Bush displays "all the classic patterns of addictive thinking". More specifically, she argued that Bush exhibits "the tendency to go to extremes," a "kill or be killed mentality," incoherence while speaking away from script, impatience, irritability in the face of disagreement, and a rigid, judgmental outlook. She added that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was primarily a result of his relationship with his father: "the targeting of Iraq had become one man’s personal crusade."

Van Wormer's analysis, expressed in colloquial rather than clinical terms, drew on her own addiction treatment experience and writings, as she did not meet with Bush in person. Critics have responded to her assertions by citing her lack of formal medical training and specifically her lack of a medical degree and license to practice medicine. They also cite her lack of access to his private medical records and note that it is irresponsible in itself to offer third hand speculation over a mental or emotional diagnosis of someone who is not her patient, particularly in a public forum. Others point out that the Alcoholics Anonymous model of addiction and the need to pass through their complete "twelve step plan" to become truly sober is not universally accepted. Many former substance abusers having overcome their problem apparently successfully without this process, so that the "dry drunk" concept may itself be mere self-serving rationalization.

Justin Frank, a clinical professor of psychiatry at The George Washington University Medical School, has incorporated similar, though apparently independent, observations into a book about Bush, Bush on the Couch ISBN 0-06-073670-4 [13]. Frank's book has been highly praised by other prominent psychiatrists and has found confirmation from a childhood friend of Bush and from Bush's disaffected former treasury secretary. [14].

Frank's book also has its critics. Irwin Savodnik, a psychiatrist who teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles, described Frank's book as a "psychoanalytic hatchet job" and said that "there is not an ounce of psychoanalytic material in the entire book." [15] Once again, the code of the American Psychiatric Association, of which Frank is not a member, states that "it is unethical for a psychiatrist to offer a professional opinion unless he or she has conducted an examination and has been granted proper authorization for such a statement." [16] Although Frank had in the past written for Salon.com, the online magazine reviewed the book unfavorably, arguing that it included "dubious theories" and that Frank had failed in his avowed intention to distinguish his partisan opinions from his psychoanalytic evaluation of Bush's character. [17]

[edit] Illegal drugs

Bush has said that he did not use illegal drugs at any time since 1974 ([18]), but he has declined to discuss whether he used drugs before 1974 ([19]).

A conversation between Bush and an old friend and author, Doug Wead, touched on the subject of use of illegal drugs. In the taped recordings of the conversation, Bush explained his refusal to answer questions about whether he had used marijuana at some time in his past. “I wouldn’t answer the marijuana questions,” Bush says. “You know why? Because I don’t want some little kid doing what I tried.” When Wead reminded Bush that the latter had publicly denied using cocaine, Bush replied, "I haven't denied anything."

In a biography of Bush, Fortunate Son (ISBN 1-887128-84-0), James Hatfield investigated claims that Bush had been arrested for cocaine possession and that he had the record expunged; Hatfield said he found corroboration from three people close to the Bush family. Bush called Hatfield's book "totally ridiculous" but declined to discuss whether he had used drugs before 1974. [20]. Critics have pointed out the sources for the book are unnamed and the facts uncorroborated. Four days after its publication the book's publisher, St. Martin's Press, discovered that Hatfield had been previously convicted of attempted murder and spent five years in jail. When faced with the allegations Hatfield initially denied them but later admitted they were true. St. Martin's recalled the book and mothballed others. Hatfield pointed out that, before the Bush campaign brought pressure to bear, St. Martin's had stated that the book had been "carefully fact-checked and scrutinized by lawyers". ([21]) The book was later republished by another publisher shortly before Hatfield died of a drug overdose in an act of suicide. [22] [23]

In February 2004, Eric Boehlert in Salon magazine claimed that Bush's cessation of flying in April, 1972 and his subsequent refusal to take a physical exam came at the same time the Air Force announced its Medical Service Drug Abuse Testing Program, which was officially launched April 21. Boehlert said "according to Maj. Jeff Washburn, the chief of the National Guard's substance abuse program, a random drug-testing program was born out of that regulation and administered to guardsmen such as Bush. The random tests were unrelated to the scheduled annual physical exams, such as the one that Bush failed to take in 1972, a failure that resulted in his grounding." Boehlert remarks that the drug testing took years to implement, but "as of April 1972, Air National guardsmen knew random drug testing was going to be implemented". [24]

[edit] See also

George W. Bush
Early life • Professional life • Military service • First term (2001-2005) • Second term (2005-present) • Administration • Foreign policy • Domestic policy • Public perception and assessments • Bush Doctrine • Compassionate conservatism • Books and films • Bushisms