Former history professor and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has said that two of the nation’s founding fathers would not have tolerated marijuana production and would have cracked down violently on growers.

“I think Jefferson or George Washington would have rather strongly discouraged you from growing marijuana and their techniques with dealing with it would have been rather more violent than our current government,” Gingrich told an audience in Concord, New Hampshire.

Apparently Gingrich, who taught history and geography at West Georgia College for eight years, didn’t know that both Washington and Jefferson grew marijuana on their farms, which was common back in the days of the Founding Fathers because the plant was used for commercial purposes, such as for making rope and textiles.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

Did George Washington and Thomas Jefferson Grow Marijuana? (The Straight Dope)