Ted Cruz Smoked Weed When He Was A Teenager

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) smoked marijuana as a teenager, according to a spokesperson, who described the potential 2016 presidential candidate's youthful experimentation as a "mistake."

The Daily Mail's David Martosko asked 10 potential GOP presidential candidates whether they had smoked pot. Cruz's camp was one of seven to respond, and the only one to offer new details on their boss' past drug use.

"Teenagers are often known for their lack of judgment, and Sen. Cruz was no exception," the spokesperson told the paper. "When he was a teenager, he foolishly experimented with marijuana. It was a mistake, and he's never tried it since."

Last week, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) told the Boston Globe that he, too, had experimented with marijuana in high school.

“I drank alcohol and I smoked marijuana when I was at Andover,” Bush, who is "actively" exploring a 2016 bid, said. "It was pretty common."

Cruz has criticized President Barack Obama for allowing recreational marijuana laws to go into effect in Colorado and Washington state without federal intervention.

"The Obama administration's approach to drug policy is to simply announce that across the country, it is going to stop enforcing certain drug laws," Cruz told Reason last year. "Now, that may or may not be a good policy, but I would suggest that should concern anyone -- it should even concern libertarians who support that policy outcome -- because the idea that the president simply says criminal laws that are on the books, we're going to ignore [them]. That is a very dangerous precedent."

Cruz said he's open to debate on the issue.

"I think we can have an intelligent conversation about drug policy and the degree to which it may or may not be achieving the ends we hope it would achieve," he said.