“Put the Cannabis in there and crush up a Vicodin before rolling it up”: Former NFL star Ricky Williams shares the self-medication secrets of top athletes in the league
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Ricky Williams
Former NFL star athlete Ricky Williams is one of the most outspoken athletes about the use of cannabis in sports for recovery purposes. As an NFL player who tends to get injured a lot or who workout extremely hard day in and day out, he found cannabis to be the best healer rather than taking the pain tablets that the teams prescribe. Williams recently shed some light on the behind-the-scenes stories in the league and how some of the top NFL stars stayed self-medicated so that they could keep their pain under control.
The RB himself has played for the Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints, and the Baltimore Ravens before retiring. He was accustomed to getting suspended every now and then as he repeatedly kept on violating the league’s substance abuse policy. He ended up testing positive for marijuana on numerous occasions.
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Ricky Williams claimed veteran superstars turned to Cannabis to recover faster after games:
On Monday, Williams spoke to USA Today’s ‘Sports Seriously’ while shedding light on what the top guys in the league were doing to stay healthy. “I played a long time ago, and I played for a long time. So things have changed a lot when I first got into the league,” the running back said.
Reflecting upon his own career, he spoke on his first experience of dealing with cannabis use in the league. He shares a story from his rookie year. “My rookie year, a Hall of Fame player on the team, he’s in the Hall of Fame now, invited me over to his house and he gave me the speech about how to take care of yourself in the NFL. He pulled out some cannabis, crushed it up, split a blunt, opened it up, put the cannabis in there, took a Vicodin, crushed it up, sprinkled the Vico in there, rolled up the blunt and passed it to me. That was a vet, teaching me as a rookie, how to take care of myself in the NFL.”
That is one heck of a story, Ricky, after all as a rookie you are told by your coaches to watch and learn from your veterans. Williams entered the NFL in 1999 and was initially drafted by the New Orleans Saints at No.5 but was traded to the Washington Redskins who moved up multiple picks who moved up for him.
The RB does not interestingly mention the name of the veteran, he shares another story about his final year in the league as a Raven. “My last year in the NFL, I was playing for the Ravens. And one point we were in the playoffs, and I was leaving the facility and there were guys coming in with a plate full of ‘brownies,’ he said. They were going to watch film so yeah.”
Not bad, if getting high and watching film can make you go 12-4(2011 Ravens regular season record) in a season, that’s a strategy that many other teams should look into. The running back now owns his own brand of marijuana products named Highsman. He has been vouching for the use of cannabis in the NFL and ensuring that players do not get suspended or fined for its use.
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Sumedh Joshi
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