Ricky Williams talks NFL's evolving drug polices, growth of cannabis lifestyle brand

Ricky Williams believes the NFL will continue to make changes to its drug polices as it learns more about cannabis. On3 recently spoke to the former NFL running back about the NFL potentially making additional changes to its polices after doing so last year.

“It’s to the point where it’s lax enough where the players aren’t complaining,” Ricky Williams said. “So they found a sweet spot, and it might stay there until a player or players take a stand and say, ‘This is important for us.’

“I’m idealistic here, but being a professional football player, being a cannabis advocate, it makes sense to me that the NFL should give players, should facilitate players having every reasonable means to be able to take care of themselves. So my hope in the future, the same way Kevin O’Neill, our head trainer (for the Miami Dolphins), would walk down the aisle of the airplane and hand out Vicodin and Ambien that people might have, or THC capsules or gummies or something that honors people’s choice and how they take care of themselves.”

In December, the NFL and NFL Players Association agreed to changes to the league’s drug policies, including changes to testing procedures, fines and other discipline associated with violations of performance-enhancing drug policy and the policy of substance abuse. A significant change made was that the level of THC required to trigger a positive cannabis test was increased from 150 nanograms per milliliter to 350.

Ricky Williams has big expansions plans for Highsman

During Williams’ NFL career, he was suspended multiple times for cannabis, including in May of 2004, months before he retired from the league. He returned to the NFL in 2005, but was suspended for the entire 2006 season for violating the NFL’s drug policy.

After retiring from the NFL in 2012, Williams became a medical cannabis advocate. It led to him launching the cannabis lifestyle brand, Highsman, in 2021. Williams told On3 that he’s happy to see Highsman “survive” in “an unregulated market,” but “we’ve had to grow pivot, make a lot of adjustments.” The Pro Bowl and All-Pro running back also discussed expanding Highsman into new markets, as it’s already in 10 states.

“We’re launching New York on the next week or two,” Williams revealed. “We’re launching Missouri next week, and we just launched Rhode Island last two weeks ago. So, those are the freshest new markets that we’re we’re going into now. Our pattern is leading up into the football season, the off-season, we do a lot of work to get into new markets, and then during the football season, we really grow and take care of those markets. And then next winter, we’ll look to enter some new markets.”