Texas Football: Ricky Williams Opens Up About the NFL's New Cannabis Regulations

The former Longhorn is happy to see the changes, but can't help but wish these sweeping changes had come sooner

The NFL was long considered one of the strictest professional sports organizations when it came to cannabis use, but the league's new collective bargaining agreement went a long way toward remedying what many considered to be draconian rules regarding marijuana.

The new rule raises the limit from 35 to 150 nanograms of THC. It will also be restricted to the first two weeks of camp. 

Its a sweeping change that could revolutionize the way players deal with pain throughout the season, but for players like former Longhorn legend Ricky Williams, the change comes too late. 

In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated the two-time Doak Walker Award Winner opened up about his past, his thoughts on the new CBA and how he's still working to further the use of cannabis for health reasons. 

"I feel intimately connected to this piece of the new CBA the fact that they've decided that there's no need for players to ever be suspended for failing a test for cannabis," the former Heisman winner said. "And you know, it makes me think of my story and and yeah, I failed drug tests, which were at the time for a substance that that's still banned by the NFL, but I don't I think it was a little punitive and over the top, and and, you know, potentially almost ruined, ruined my life and so to know that, that's never gonna happen to another football player. makes it all worth it. makes it all worth it and hopefully the message is sense to the world at large, I think is powerful."

 Williams rushed for over 10,000 yards during his NFL career, but most believe those numbers would have been even higher had it not been for several suspensions due to the league's marijuana policy. Williams used cannabis to help overcome his social anxiety disorder. He believes the rules may have cost him as much as $10 million during his career. 

He now owns the company Real Wellness, a company that uses cannabis to help people cope with a variety of health issues like headaches and anxiety.

" I've been very much involved in cannabis, it's still putting out a healthy message," Williams said. "And so I think if I find life pit falling apart, I don't think I would have felt as good about these changes. But I think that people tracking my story, I created evidence that you know, this stuff isn't isn't necessarily bad for football players."

Williams is focused on the future, but can't help but think about what may have been had these changes been enacted sooner. 

"It's hard to imagine back then NFL adopting this policy, but for sure. I think I could have, you know, taken those breaks during the offseason, especially now players have, you know, have more time in the offseason," he said. "So, I mean, I think about it sometimes. And I think if the NFL had adopted this policy, I think for sure I'd be I'd be either on the ballot or I'd be about ready to go into the Hall of Fame. Um, but again, I look at I feel like when I'm, you know 20 years down the line when I look back, that I could take pride in in this that something I was able to help contribute and move things further that have more to do than you know how many yards I could run for on the football field."

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Chris Dukes
CHRIS DUKES