Founder and former CEO of Men's Wearhouse George Zimmer said at the Cannabis World Congress & Business Expo that he is a marijuana supporter and has been a proud user for several decades.

"I've been smoking marijuana on a regular basis for about 50 years," Zimmer told CNBC at the Los Angeles gathering, adding jokingly, "As you can see, it's really impacted me in a negative way."

As the keynote speaker of the event, Zimmer promoted marijuana legalization, which he supported in 2010 as well. According to CNBC, the Cannabis World Congress & Business Expo was abundant with new companies interested in profiting from recreational marijuana should California legalize it.

"I think it's important that we protect limited home cultivation without any government licensing, so whether it's one plant or 10 plants, I don't know, but I think that's very important," he said during his address. "It's treated like it was heroin. Everybody's who is in high school hears that and goes, 'What are they talking about?' ... This is the biggest con that has been perpetrated on this country in the last century."

Zimmer, who was ousted in his role as Men's Wearhouse CEO two years ago, is now running online suit and tuxedo rental site Generation Tux. Though it was hard to leave the company he built, he made the best of it and spoke candidly about the experience to his kids when it happened.

"I said to my children, who were probably 10 and 12, I said, 'Hey, look, Dad got fired," he said. "It's not going to mean anything to our lives, but I want you to understand that in life you're going to have these adversities, and you have to overcome them, you have to learn to overcome all adversity in fact."