Ricky Williams Loves Weed
Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams says he was tempted to smoke pot during the team’s bye weekend, and that he “would be lying” if he said he wasn’t going to light up once his NFL career is over.
Williams has already been busted by the league four times for violating its substance abuse policy – and has missed all or most of every NFL season since 2004, when he retired from football to go do hippie things. He returned a year later, but was then suspended by the league for the entire 2006 season for smoking dope again. Williams was reinstated in 2007 – a process which was delayed by another failed drug test – but was injured in his first game back.
One more pot bust and Williams will be out of the NFL for good.
From ESPN:
Williams told The Miami Herald for Tuesday’s editions that when players were given Friday off, “Automatically your mind, which is so constrained since training camp began … says, ‘I’m free, what can I do?’ ”
“So there was definitely an urge,” he said. “But I just thought about what I have to lose, and it was easy. The urge didn’t last very long.”
Williams won the Heisman Trophy in 1998 at the University of Texas, where he broke Tony Dorsett’s career NCAA rushing record. In 2002, he was the NFL’s leading rusher in his first season with the Dolphins.
Frankly, as long as NFL athletes aren’t doing steroids or hard drugs, we have a difficult time understanding why they shouldn’t be allowed to spark a doobie every once in awhile.
It’s just pot, people.
Anyway, Williams said he “meditated” until his craving passed, citing the fact that he has no “wiggle space” with the NFL.
Many football analysts view Williams’ career as a waste, saying that his “addiction” to pot has turned him into a mediocre talent when he could have been one of the greatest running backs of all-time.
We say Williams should be free to make his own choices, particularly when he’s not doing something that would give him an unfair competitive advantage on the field.
Steroids are the real evil in professional sports, people, not a good guy who just can’t get enough of the ganja.
Comments
By rick on October 1st, 2008 at 10:50 am
We failed at prohibition, we’ll continue to fail at the war on drugs. Where’s the creative solution to an issue that isn’t going away. Why do we punish someone more harshly for doing drugs than we do CEO’s and politicians for their actions that affect a larger segment of society. Anytime we outlaw something society wants, we build a black market that keeps on giving.(violence, prisons,etc.) Sounds like an opportunity for legalization and controls like tobacco and liquor. Otherwise, welcome to a prison in your back yard.
By Tiger on October 1st, 2008 at 5:26 pm
toking a little yourself there sic?
By WB on October 19th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Ricky doesn’t realize that he is an addict. You can’t turned it off and turn it on. I wish someone would tell him he has a disease. He could crash and burn like other addicted superstars.
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