‘Wake up’: Dave Portnoy backs Florida’s recreational pot measure, riling conservatives online

Image via Dave Portnoy/X.

Dave Portnoy likes football, pizza and pot. One of those things is largely illegal in the Sunshine State, but shouldn’t be, he said.

Portnoy took to X over the weekend to voice support for Amendment 3. If approved by 60% of Florida voters in November, the measure will essentially legalize recreational pot in the state for people 21 and older.

He laid out his case in a roughly one-minute video Sunday, which by Monday afternoon had close to 16 million views, 73,000 likes, 5,800 shares and 5,400 comments.

“Listen, it’s Sunday afternoon, football on TV, pizza on the way in Massachusetts — smoking a little weed, just enjoying my day. Florida, you can’t do this. In my Miami house, you can’t do this. Why?” Portnoy said while repeatedly blowing smoke from a joint into the camera.

“It’s about freedom. Half the states allow this, legal marijuana. Florida, I want to be able to watch football, eat pizza and smoke. We’re all adults here, 21-plus, make your own decisions. It’s on the ballot. Vote ‘yes’ on 3. Legalize recreational weed. Come on. Where are we, Florida? Wake up.”

The endorsement of Amendment 3 by Portnoy, the founder and owner of sports and pop culture outlet Barstool Sports, marked the latest in a series of cross-aisle messages of support for legalization.

It’s especially notable considering Portnoy’s sizable cultural influence and his being the de facto figurehead of Barstool conservatism. The relatively new political faction supports Donald Trump and embraces nonreligious libertarian views, including opposition to COVID lockdowns and abortion bans, while also rejecting culturally liberal movements pushing preferred pronoun usage and diversity, equity and inclusion practices.

Other high-profile figures who back legalization include Trump, boxing legend-turned-pot mogul Mike Tyson, state Sen. Joe Gruters, a former Chair of the Florida GOP, and state Sen. Shevrin Jones, who chairs the Miami-Dade Democratic Party.

Opponents include Gov. Ron DeSantis, hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin of Citadel and Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a longtime medical cannabis advocate whose position on Amendment 3 appears to mostly have to do with qualms about it altering Florida’s Constitution.

Portnoy’s Sunday post drew jeers from several other notable conservatives. Matt Walsh, a columnist for The Daily Wire and star of the documentary films “What is a Woman?” and “Am I Racist?”, quote-posted a response to his 3 million followers: “Can you point to any state or city in the country where life has been in any way measurably improved after legalizing marijuana?”

“Where are the legalization success stories?” he said. “Give me just one please.”

Former football player Jason Whitlock, an ex-sports columnist who now hosts the Blaze Media show “Fearless with Jason Whitlock,” quote-posted Portnoy’s video to pitch an even more extreme version of JD Vance’s view on who should and shouldn’t be allowed to vote in America.

“This is why single people and people without kids shouldn’t vote,” he told his nearly 794,000 followers. “We tend to think very selfishly with no concern for what we’re leaving the next generation. Married people with kids should be the only voters. We should prioritize families if we want to fix our broken culture.”

Several people pointed out to Whitlock that the pre-Revolutionary War slogan, “No taxation without representation,” generally spoke against what he was suggesting.

Another person fired back at Walsh, “We don’t need legalization stories for marijuana any more than we needed legalization stories for alcohol after prohibition. Each person owns their own body and has sole decisions over it to include what (they) consume or choose not to consume.”

Multiple studies have found that teen cannabis consumption declined in states that legalized recreational use. A July 2023 report from the Florida Financial Impact Estimating Conference also projected that recreational cannabis would generate sales tax revenues of between $195.6 million and $431.3 million a year, while the annual cost to regulate the industry would be about $11.4 million, not counting a one-time $9 million expenditure.

Amendment 3, if passed, would make it legal for anyone 21 and older to use and possess up to 3 ounces of cannabis, with no more than 5 grams in a concentrated form. It would also allow medical marijuana treatment centers and other state-licensed entities to acquire, cultivate, process, manufacture, sell and distribute cannabis products.

Recent polling found there is overwhelming support for ballot initiatives this year that broaden personal freedoms, including 65% support for Amendment 3 — up from 63% in April — and 76% support for Amendment 4, which would enshrine abortion protections in the Florida Constitution.