Ricky Williams could be bitter.
In fact, he should be bitter.
But that’s just not who Ricky Williams is.
He’s always been a bit of an enigma; a different cat and character.
The man whose football career was derailed because he chose to smoke marijuana rather than drink booze or pop pills to ease the physical and mental grind of playing in the NFL is as happy as he’s ever been.
“Marijuana probably never should have been on the banned list in the first place, but you can understand why it was — because it was illegal in this country,” Williams told me in an interview a few days ago. “Now that things have changed in the last 20 years, I just think it’s wonderful that college football [and the NFL] are responding to these changes.”
Williams was reacting to a story that flew under the radar several days ago when the NCAA removed marijuana from its banned-substance list. The NFL hasn’t quite gone that far, but the league is certainly moving in that direction and no longer suspends players who test positive for cannabis.
As the marijuana laws in this country change, Williams has gone from Heisman to “Highsman” — the name of his budding cannabis brand and platform he uses to advocate for the therapeutic and wellness properties of pot. Whether you use cannabis or not, it’s hard to deny the ridiculousness of its illegality throughout the decades.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: If Jack Daniel’s is legal, then marijuana should be legal. How many trillions of dollars have been wasted putting people in prison for possessing, growing or even selling marijuana? And how hypocritical is it for a bunch of old, conservative politicians to continue to outlaw marijuana while they’re getting sauced on martinis every night after the day’s legislative session?
And how many athletes have had their dreams deferred because they chose to smoke marijuana? Who will ever forget the travesty of American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson being banned from the Tokyo Olympics earlier this decade because she tested positive for cannabis?
When the NCAA lifted its ban on marijuana, my first thought was of former Florida State cornerback Greg Reid being kicked out of school more than a decade ago because of FSU’s three-strikes-and-you’re-out policy on testing positive for marijuana.
At the time, I asked then-FSU coach Jimbo Fisher about the double standard between alcohol and marijuana in this country.
“We look at alcohol like it’s not a problem,” Fisher said. “Alcohol isn’t illegal, and I understand that, but I’ll tell you what, it causes as many deaths and bad circumstances as any other drug. But alcohol is accepted.”
Fisher then looked around the room at the horde of media members: “What if somebody told everybody in this room that you can’t drink a beer again or you’re going to get fired?”
Which is essentially what happened to Ricky Williams, who might have gone down as one of the greatest running backs in NFL history if not for his penchant for pot. He won the 1998 Heisman Trophy at Texas after breaking the major college football record for career rushing yards. He was so big, fast and dominant, the New Orleans Saints traded every pick they had in the NFL draft plus two of its first three picks in the 2000 draft just so they could move up to fifth and take Williams.
After running for more than 1,000 yards in two of his first three seasons in New Orleans, he was traded to the Miami Dolphins, where he led the league in rushing with 1,853 yards in 2002. Two years later, he was suspended from the league for testing positive for pot and announced he was retiring although he would later return.
However, his return was littered with other marijuana-related suspensions that ultimately cost Williams millions of dollars and a place among the greatest running backs in history. Despite all of the public criticism and stigma attached to his name, he says he doesn’t regret his career being undermined by his decision to use marijuana. He says his suspensions from the NFL allowed him to become more enlightened; to get his psychology degree from the University of Texas; to become a massage therapist; to live in a tent in Australia for a while and to study holistic medicine and yoga in California.
“I enjoyed my football career being derailed; I needed the derailment,” says Williams, who still ran for more than 10,000 yards in 11 NFL seasons. “I wasn’t at home feeling sorry for myself; I was traveling around the world getting to know myself. … It’s a matter of priorities. I’d made enough money playing football that I could live and do what I wanted to do.”
Asked why he simply didn’t wait until after his NFL career was over to smoke pot, he replies: “Because my freedom was more important to me than playing football.”
Williams says his advocacy for marijuana started with the Dolphins when one the team’s athletic trainers would regularly hand out pharmaceuticals to players after every game.
“I became an advocate because it’s stupid that football players aren’t allowed to use cannabis,” Williams says. “Our trainer used to walk down the aisle on the plane after road games with his little Tupperware tub of pills, right? And he would go down the line saying, ‘Ambien or Vicodin? … Ambien or Vicodin?’ And I remember sitting on the plane thinking, ‘I can just go home and smoke a blunt [of marijuana] and I’ll be good for pain and I’ll get right to sleep.’ It just didn’t make sense to me that we were given these pharmaceuticals, but other more organic ways of taking care of ourselves were banned.
“That’s why I’m advocating for athletes, especially athletes who play brutal sports like football, to be given all reasonable means to be able to take care of themselves,” Williams adds.
I must admit, I used to think Ricky Williams was just a lazy pothead, but my perspective has changed over the years.
As the laws evolve and his journey has gone from Heisman to Highsman, it seems Williams’ greatest victory didn’t take place on the football field.
It has come from his determination to live authentically and to shine a light on the hypocrisy of our sports leagues banning marijuana while handing out prescription drugs like candy and making billions on alcohol advertising.
Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on X (formerly Twitter) @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/listen
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