Newt Gingrich To New Hampshire: Jefferson, Washington Would Have Cracked Down On Pot

CONCORD, N.H. -- If Newt Gingrich needed a reminder that he wasn't in Iowa anymore, it came rather quickly during his first appearance here Wednesday, when he was pressed on three separate occasions about the overreaches of federal drug policy.

During a town hall-style appearance in Concord, the former House Speaker said he had no interest in exploring drug decriminalization, arguing that such efforts haven't worked in Europe. Contra Gingrich, however, Portugal has had some success with decriminalization initiatives.

Pushed a bit later on the incarceration rate related to petty drug crimes, Gingrich responded, "I think the best thing is to get young people not to do drugs and then you won't be dealing with criminals that you just described."

A third resident of the "live free or die" state argued that the founding fathers had been far more lenient about marijuana than the current political class. "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 replied.

On that last point, the record is a bit hazy. The Huffington Post's Ryan Grim, author of the book "This is Your Country on Drugs" said that during his research he found no evidence that the founding farmers smoked weed but that they grew hemp "for sure."

"I couldn't find much evidence for pot-smoking in America until the early 20th century, but in the 19th century it was a popular extract in patent medicines," Grim said. Academic literature on the matter says much the same.

Comments

[Little Black]

10:33 PM on 01/06/2012

If Gingrich gets the nomination, you will see vitriol and mendacity writ larger than ever before in American politics. The effect will be shocking. The hatred and bigotry it will unleash in like-minded people will resemble the suppuration of a gangrenous wound, festering and in need of amputation. This macabre spectacle could be our body politic's means of purging itself, if only for the time being, of the evil so powerfully rooted in our public discourse. In any case, its success in grafting itself, from the Congress onto the White House is unimaginable. It would be morbidly fascinating, to watch the originator of the decline of public discourse into 24/7 slash and burn, have that turned instead on him, 24/7, until he implodes, much like the wicked witch of the north. "I'm melting....!!!!!" Now, I'd pay a big price to watch that happen.

[robertogt]

01:06 PM on 01/05/2012

Memo to Newt: Pot was legal until 1936. It still would be legal if not for the pressure on congress by the synthetic fabric industry(they didn't like competition). For those still in the dark, cannibas was used to make clothes, books, paper, sails and a host of other goods. If it was decriminalized today, the feds would lose countless billions. Get the picture yet?

[Mike Parent]

06:33 PM on 01/05/2012

Sure he got the picture, lots of them, all of them Benjamin Franklin's! The guy is so crooked, he could hide behind a cork screw!

[SirReal1]

07:52 PM on 01/05/2012

Mostly correct!

Additional demonization and misinformation about Marijuana was provided and promoted by the Cotton Industry and the Lumber/Paper Industry (aka William Randolph Hearst).

[MDean]

12:57 PM on 01/05/2012

I think Gingrich, like most social conservatives and right wing politicians, is way off the mark with respect to what position our founding fathers would have taken with respect to drugs, and many other social issues for that matter. When an action is one of personal choice, that causes no apparent direct harm to another, I would have expected the majority of the founding fathers to have supported the individual's right to choose their course of action for themselves, and not to seek to create laws intended to coerce individuals into conforming to a particular set of behavior.

[robertogt]

01:10 PM on 01/05/2012

Newt lost his creds when he was bounced out of congress(should have been jailed) and was fined 300k(a first). His ex wives are another story.

[SirReal1]

07:55 PM on 01/05/2012

Are you implying that he had "credibility" prior to leaving Congress?

[Gary Rose]

12:51 PM on 01/05/2012

In reality Thomas Jefferson would have has his property raided for growing HEMP, then he would have invoked his 2nd Amendment right and he would have definitely executed somebody he got that right.

[Mike Parent]

11:42 AM on 01/05/2012

NG Newt is so obviously out of touch! 50% of Americans favor Legalization, across the board and 70% favor Medical Marijuana. He's having his last Hoorah and making a Horses' Patute out of himself, while doing so.

Dems and Reps, different pages from the same bad book!
NYPD, ret. LEAP member.

[SirReal1]

07:58 PM on 01/05/2012

In order to "make oneself a "Horses Patootie"" one would have to have not been one to start with.

[MinnesotaBorderGuy]

11:00 AM on 01/05/2012

My dad grew hemp in Iowa during WW2...it was raised to make rope for the Navy.

[SirReal1]

07:59 PM on 01/05/2012

Your Dad was also considered a "Patriot" for doing so.

The Government encouraged growers during WW II due to increased need for sturdy, durable, rope.

[Chas Holman]

10:59 AM on 01/05/2012

Proofs in the pudding...

Newt is not a very credible 'historian'.

[MJinCanada]

02:58 PM on 01/06/2012

I just love it when a minor typo creates a fantastic pun or image.

Leaving out the apostrophe in "proofs" made me think of the proof (proofreading) copies of Newt's "history" books being tossed back into the vat to be pulped for fresh paper -- prevent the waste of thousands of trees!

[Jimmy Carl Cameron]

10:40 AM on 01/05/2012

What would make Newt believe that the founders would have crack down on drugs when they didn't crack down on the trafficing in human bodies???

[SOS4USA]

10:24 AM on 01/05/2012

This just shows how totally uncool Newt is, and that he wants the War on Drugs to keep taking it's toll on the American public. This is about big gov coffers filled up and big police state high tech companies making a killing, literally and figuratively. The love of money is the root of all evil, so true. While I know that you can do some pretty stupid things on drugs, the people do not belong to the US government. Slaves are owned and controlled just like the citizens of the US today and we heard another 40 thousand new laws were implemented this year. Enough is enough, it's time to free US.

[MJinCanada]

10:08 AM on 01/05/2012

Would someone like to inform Gingrich that the Declaration of Independence was printed on hemp paper and that Washington and Jefferson most likely grew hemp? It was one of the colonies most lucrative crops, used for making the ropes and possibly sails for all those tall ships, as well as paper for the booming printing industry.

[Jennifer McClenithan]

12:17 PM on 01/05/2012

They did both grow hemp. And tried to sell it which makes them "drug dealers".

[SirReal1]

08:02 PM on 01/05/2012

They did both grow "hemp" which is not the same as Marijuana.

Hemp is NOT a drug.

They LIKELY, however, did grow some Marijuana plants as well, but there is not ample evidence that they either sold, nor consumed it.

[Captain Shays]

01:45 PM on 01/07/2012

Washington and Jefferson most definately grew hemp. They rotated their Tobacco and other crops with hemp because it restored the nutrients to the soil. LIke you said, the Declaration of Independence was written on paper made with hemp but so was the Constitution. Our first flag made by Betsey Ross was also made from hemp yet we here in the land of the free and home of the brave need to import hemp from communist China if we want the products they are free enough to make from it because of neonuts like Newt and Santorum and Obama

[carlos-raul]

09:13 AM on 01/05/2012

http://naihc.org/hemp_information/hemp_facts.html

[xcellcor]

08:46 AM on 01/05/2012

The Founding Fathers would most likely had this Elite Jerk - Tried for Treason - for all of the Damage he has done to our Constitution and Bill of Rights during his tenure in Office. Also our founding fathers did not - become filthy rich - because of their Buddies and Lobbiest's in Washington

[jgorl804]

07:05 AM on 01/05/2012

isn't he supposed to Know something? done some historic research or something?..sounds like he's just talking out his arse to his base. it's probably just me....

[raoulhubris]

10:04 AM on 01/05/2012

Newt is a creative historian. The distinction allows him to be paid creatively as well.

[Bill Allyn]

04:07 AM on 01/05/2012

Oh, the irony! New Hampshire is named for pot. Hamp = Hemp.

http://www.innvista.com/health/foods/hemp/history.htm

[MJinCanada]

03:15 PM on 01/06/2012

Actually, New Hampshire is named for the English county of Hampshire, on the southern coast of Great Britain. And that name is probably derived from the old Anglo-Saxon words for "homestead" or "enclosed field." Although hemp was most likely grown there at the time for making ropes and canvas.

I got the chance last summer to learn how medieval folks pilled, braked and scutched hemp stems for the fibres. After working for about 3 hours I have enough hemp fibre to spin into a very tiny spool of thread - if I can ever get the knack of spinning it. :-)

[Captain Shays]

01:47 PM on 01/07/2012

They probably grew hemp in Hampshire England too

[opprobrious]

02:03 AM on 01/05/2012

It should be illegal to spray your kid's pot with Solarcaine or combine it with PCP but then I guess it would have to be legalized first before you could enforce that.

[jgorl804]

07:09 AM on 01/05/2012

they could still prosecute u for trying to hurt somebody....like battery???assault....idk

[opprobrious]

12:56 PM on 01/05/2012

...and how would the authorities become aware of a substance that has been tampered with and that is illegal to possess?