Okay. I've heard about this before. One of the books that makes this allegation is "Fortunate Son" by the late J.H. Hatfield. Amy Goodman from Democracy Now interviewed him before his death:

J. H. HATFIELD: Well he was also in the National Guard with George W. back in the 70's which is interesting too because in 1972 in August, my publisher was able not too long ago to get hold of Bush's national guard records. And in 1972, at the same time we alleged he was doing community service for cocaine arrest James Bath who was in the unit with him. Both of them were grounded for failing to show up for medical exam.

AMY GOODMAN: Wait, what did you say about drugs?

J. H. HATFIELD: Oh the drug question. Well that's the $64 question that we raise in the afterword of the book. We say that George W. Bush was arrested in 1972 for possession of cocaine and his father got it fixed and he did community service at Project Pool a minority mentoring program, tough area in Houston for 1 year.

AMY GOODMAN: Now how do you know he got arrested for cocaine?

J. H. HATFIELD: Because we have three sources in the book. Three confidential sources but nevertheless they're close friends of Bush, they've been close friends for many years, all the way back to when he was a boy. And there were also sources that I used consistently through the book and other stuff that they've told me about was corroborated by secondary and third sources.

-snip-

AMY GOODMAN: And what's the story that they told you?

J. H. HATFIELD: That he was picked up. That he was taken to jail. He called his father of course. His father at the time was UN ambassador. There is some conflicting stories I have on whether he was actually in town in Houston at time or whether he was in New York. But the truth is, what they all say is that he contacted the judge that was gonna handle the case and he said look "I'm a benefactor of Project Pool, I support them. I'll make sure George W does his time there in community service," and the judge let him out of there. And that's where he spent the next year.

-snip-

AMY GOODMAN: Now explain the story exactly as you understand it. What was he picked up for?

J. H. HATFIELD: Possession of cocaine. I believe, although my source denied it, one of them, I believe that one of them might have been there when it happened.

AMY GOODMAN: Where did they say it happened?

J. H. HATFIELD: Harris County, Houston.

There's obviously a lot to evaluate here, the most important being the credibility of Hatfield and his sources. Someone told me that this piece, by the publisher of Fortunate Sun, discloses that Hatfield's primary source was Karl Rove. I'm not sure it says that. In fact, I'm not at all sure what it does say. It may be an (sloppy) excerpt from a longer piece.

Could be total bullshit. ...

...Easter Lemming has a handy roundup of recent events.