Former RB Ricky Williams pushing for NFL to offer players cannabis for treatment after games

In contemporary years, the NFL has softened its stance on marijuana utilization among its players. Back in 2021, the league revised its trying out coverage the place players at the moment are examined in the beginning of coaching camp and punishments are a lot much less serious than they have been in years previous. For former first-round working again and Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams, this has been a welcome sight. But he additionally believes the league can push past merely permitting players to use cannabis extra freely and as a substitute have it’s a device to assist deal with diseases players have.

“I think the next step, though, is at the end of a game, if we’re on the plane ride home, the trainer is walking down the aisle and has two capsule cases — one of Ambien, and the other one of Vicodin,” Williams advised TMZ Sports. “And he’s walking down the aisle and saying, ‘Do you need any of this, do you need any of this?’

“And in fact, for soccer players, we do want one thing as it hurts, and you are all revved up and it is exhausting to relax and pass to sleep. And I’d love to see cannabis as being a type of issues that the instructor is strolling down the aisle and providing to the ones players.”

Williams — who legally modified his title to Errick Miron — has advocated for the league to pass on this route for years. As a participant, Williams used to be suspended more than one occasions via the league for marijuana use, together with in May of 2004, which used to be months sooner than he made the unexpected determination to retire simply days sooner than coaching camp. Upon popping out of retirement in 2005, Williams used to be later suspended for all the 2006 season for violating the NFL’s drug coverage. He used to be ultimately reinstated in 2007 and retired from the NFL in Feb. 2012. 

With cannabis turning into felony in additional states around the nation, the NFL has up to date its insurance policies, which has most likely led to an build up in utilization among players. Earlier this offseason, Chiefs famous person tight finish Travis Kelce, who had a drug-related suspension in faculty at Cincinnati, advised Vanity Fair that he estimates anyplace from 50 to 80% of players lately use cannabis. 

It’s additionally price bringing up that the NBA, in its new collective bargaining settlement with the players, removed marijuana testing entirely. With that during thoughts, it is honest to wonder whether the NFL is heading down a equivalent trail.