Taped Bush conversations hint at marijuana use

PRIVATE conversations with US President George W Bush secretly taped by an old friend before he was elected president appear to reveal that he acknowledged using marijuana.

The conversations were recorded by Doug Wead, a former aide to Mr Bush’s father, beginning in 1998, when Mr Bush was weighing a presidential bid, until just before the Republican National Convention in 2000.

On one of the tapes, Mr Bush criticised then-Vice President Al Gore for admitting marijuana use and explained why he would not do the same.