WEBVTT - The Media Got It Wrong feat. Ricky Williams 0:00:01.280 --> 0:00:05.080 My own lived experience, was I prefer to the point 0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:09.080 where I jeopardize my career. Is I prefer the cannabis 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:10.960 because it felt more like I was taking care of 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:13.440 myself than the pills, where I felt more like I 0:00:13.480 --> 0:00:14.480 was masking stuff. 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:16.680 Right, Wow, that's real. 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.200 Lava for Good and Stand Together Music present The War 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:23.640 on Drugs Podcast Season two. This season, we're diving deeper 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:26.840 into the real stories behind the War on Drugs, its impact, 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:29.600 its failures, and the people offering a better path forward. 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:33.640 Today on the show, two time All American Texas Longhorn 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:36.640 and nineteen ninety eight Heisman Trophy winner, two thousand and 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:39.839 two NFL League Leader in rushing, All Pro and Pro 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:43.559 Bowl selectee for the Miami Dolphins, and longtime cannabis advocate 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:48.560 mister Ricky Williams. 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:53.360 All Right, welcome to season two of The War on Drugs. 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:56.320 Yes, yes, we're talking to real people. We get to 0:00:56.320 --> 0:00:59.440 hear their real stories about how they've been impacted by 0:00:59.440 --> 0:00:59.760 the world. 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:03.680 And you know, we're fighting it. We're working the world. 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:08.920 It's still waged, it's going, but we're still fighting a 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:09.399 good fight. 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:12.320 We're gonna kick it off with one that I know 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:15.520 we were both really excited to talk to. Oh yeah, 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:21.399 Ricky Williams, former Texas running back. Yes, uh NFL running back. 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:23.520 I'm a big Ravens fan. He played with the Ravens 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:26.280 for a little bit, Saints, all these other teams, and 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:29.520 I remember like those interviews that he was doing because 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:31.640 there was so much pressure like on people don't know 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:35.480 the Saints. Essentially New Orleans Saints traded like their entire 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:37.160 draft to move up to get this guy. 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:38.319 He was the only draft pick. 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:40.560 Like it was there, literally their only draft traded, and 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:42.600 so everything was on like the team was I don't 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:42.840 even know. 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:44.640 They won maybe like two games of a year before 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:47.560 they stunk, and this was like the savior and the 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:49.600 media was just all around him and it was not 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:52.440 used to have interviews like his helmet on Advisor and 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:54.400 like so you could and people that you know, it's 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:56.480 just like, oh look at look at crazy guy. 0:01:58.040 --> 0:01:59.720 He doesn't like people. 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:01.960 Yeah, you look at those old interviews. They weren't that 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:02.720 from that long ago. 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:05.960 Like the lack of knowledge like it actually helps sometimes 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:08.240 and know like we are moving in a good direction 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:11.520 kind of seeing like how people talked about him back then, 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:14.160 like he would not be talked about that way now right, 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:15.960 someone was saying, then there'd be a bunch of people 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:18.720 being like, obviously this is someone dealing with either is 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:20.440 you know, like we are the problem. You know, there 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:22.040 would be like something back and forth. Then it was 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:23.880 just like look at this loopy yeah. 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:26.400 Yeah, And I don't know if this is where it 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:31.120 came from, but it definitely is the sentiment from the 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:34.040 sports journalists when you look at like Steven A. Smith, 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:38.919 stay off the weed, like and it's like, man, you 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:42.520 need some weed. Yeah, because you're yelling this early in 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:45.280 the morning, like you wake up this loud, Like my 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:48.000 son wakes up that loud, and it is terrible. 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:51.640 Yeah, you know, it's it's crazy the world. You know, 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:54.720 it's twenty years ago about that he was. And you 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:57.760 know back then the NFL, you could be suspended for 0:02:58.040 --> 0:02:59.880 cannabis for a long time. 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:02.240 Super strict, yeah they. 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:04.919 Yeah, and it was arbitrary the way that's testing now 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:07.840 that we know where you have a certain amount in 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:10.600 your system, and it was and we as we know, 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:12.400 like it's they try to almost do it as like 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:14.280 other drugs that are water soluble, like you know. 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:15.080 Like cocaine or something like that. 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:17.560 Yeah, in there, but you have cannabis in your system 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:20.040 or in your urine and test positive, you know, months after, 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:22.840 And so they're doing it on these arbitrary notions. I 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:26.079 know they've laxed it obviously. Moving forward, they've made changes 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:30.600 where they don't suspend anymore, they required you know, more violations. 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:32.200 Or they reduce the amount that could be in your 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:35.560 system right exactly drastically, yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:37.960 Or they increase the amount. Yeah yeah, they increase the amount. 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:38.600 Yeah. 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:41.720 And really the reason that a lot of these things 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:45.640 have been changed is partly because of you know, his advocacy. 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:48.160 And I mean I look back in two thousand and 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:50.720 four and like I said, I just know the story 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:53.600 from through the media and how they painted it, and 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:56.480 it wasn't really social media like it is, so he 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:59.040 could never really come out and kind of tell his story. 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:02.440 You see them on one interview here, our interview here, 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:05.120 and you can just gather what you can from a 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:08.720 ten minute interview. But to actually be able to say, hey, 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:10.800 this is what happened, this is what I was doing, 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:13.200 this is why I was doing it, It's a whole 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:15.840 different thing. And I think a lot of people didn't 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:18.400 have that as an outlet, and I think that's the 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:21.239 difference now that people can get their story, you know, out. 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:24.960 There with that Ricky Williams, here's the interview. 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:32.560 What's going on, man? Thank you for having me. Man. 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:36.039 It's beautiful out here, beautiful home, beautiful area. I don't 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:38.280 want to tell anybody where you are right now because 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:40.839 we want to keep it as peaceful as possible. 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:45.279 We do not want people out here. Man, it's too peaceful. Man. 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:49.320 Great to have you here. Heisman Trophy winner, pro Bowler 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:55.080 advocate for the people, Ricky Williams, Glad to have you here, Man, 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:59.000 good to be here. Yes, yes, I guess I got 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:02.760 to hear it from you because we hear your story, 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:06.680 especially somebody that was as prolific as you were in 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:12.760 the sport. We hear their narration, their story of what happened. 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:16.039 But can I get at least part of that from you? 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:20.880 From San Diego to Texas to New Orleans to where 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:24.760 we're at now. Yeah, you give us the the Ricky 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:26.680 Williams story in his own words. 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:27.200 Okay. 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:29.440 Yeah, So I grew up and I grew up in 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:32.880 San Diego, raised by a single mom. As a kid, 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:36.080 young kid, I had a dream that I would be 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:38.840 a professional athlete. But at the time, I thought it 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:42.920 would be a professional baseball player. Okay, big big Padres fan. 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:46.440 Played Little League, and then when I got to eighth grade, 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:49.919 I started playing football for the first time, and after 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:51.640 a couple of years, I was really good. So I 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:54.440 was really good at baseball football. Got to high school, 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:58.440 and I'm a big Bo Jackson fan, So my dream was. 0:05:58.440 --> 0:05:59.839 To play baseball and Footballah. 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:01.880 I got drafted by the Phillies, got a chance to 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:04.479 play some baseball, and I got a scholarship to go 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:07.240 to the University of Texas to play football. At the time, 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:09.080 I thought I would just play college football and then 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:10.800 when I was done, I would go be a professional 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:13.440 baseball player. But I had so much success on the 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:16.960 football field and not enough success on the baseball diamond 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:20.000 that it kind of got flipped and I gave up baseball. 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:21.599 And I stuck with football. 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:24.480 Then I went to the got drafted the big all 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:28.960 the trade from the Saints and Mike dickerd traded everything 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:34.960 and the next year's first round fish everybody you're drafted. Yeah, 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:36.960 I was only a couple of free agents, but I 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:37.240 was the. 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:39.320 Only draft pick. Yeah. 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:42.159 And then I had had three so so years in 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:44.080 New Orleans, had a lot of injuries. Then I got 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:46.920 traded in Miami, and that first year in Miami really 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:50.240 took off, led the NFL and Russian Pro Bowl, All Pro, 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:53.200 all that good stuff. And then I came back for 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:57.680 my second year in Miami, and to me, it kind 0:06:57.680 --> 0:07:00.680 of started before then. But really the story started that 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:03.960 second year, my second year in Miami, because what occurred 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:05.840 in the first year of Miami is I failed a 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:09.080 drug test and I was put in the NFL's drug program. 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:11.360 But let me, I'm sorry not to cut you off, 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:16.240 but you failed to drug test after putting up ridiculous numbers. 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:18.920 It was right before I put up the right before, 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:22.080 right before I okay, okay, the timing of it was 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:25.320 was interesting. So now that's the kind of the football 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:27.040 story up to a certain point. Now I'm going to 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:29.880 tell more of the cannabis side of the store. So, 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:32.880 growing up, my stepdad was a rosta and so and 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:36.760 I was a huge, huge Bob Marley fan. So my 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:40.800 first my first relationship with cannabis was not as a consumer. 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:44.280 It was just appreciating two. 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:47.800 Wise men who I respected who used cannabis. 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:51.360 First book I ever read front to back. 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:55.240 Was Bob Martley's biography, so I was like in it. 0:07:55.680 --> 0:07:58.160 But because I was a professional, I mean because I 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:00.119 wanted to be a professional athlete and I was AH 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:02.480 and I grew up in the eighties. 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:05.720 Just say no, they didn't. They didn't mix. They didn't 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:08.480 mix in my in my head. And also I grew 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:10.560 up in San Diego, so it was it was all around. 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:12.800 It was all around. 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:15.080 And I had a couple of friends that smoke, So 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:18.240 I probably smoked three or four times before I left 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:18.840 high school. 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:19.600 That's it. 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:24.240 I get to college and I started noticing that sometimes 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:27.280 on Fridays the guys would go to my to sean 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:30.240 the other running back storm room and shoot dice and 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:32.880 pass a blown around. And so I was just trying 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:34.880 to be cool with the upperclassmates. I you know, mix 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:40.760 it up with them. But again, maybe ten times. And 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:43.600 then I get to my senior year, my senior year 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:45.720 in college, and I came back from my senior year 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:47.240 because I wanted to win the Heisman Trophy. 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:51.280 And the season started off kind of bumpy, you know. 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:53.680 I had a couple of rough games, broke up with 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:55.760 my girl, and I just was in a really bad place, 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:57.520 like why did I come back? 0:08:57.679 --> 0:08:57.840 You know? 0:08:57.920 --> 0:08:58.719 I was like, lo. 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:01.760 My roommate was a smoker, so he was like, you 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:03.800 just need to chill, and he slid his bond over 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:06.360 to me. I remember, I took a hit, coughed a little bit, 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:09.000 and I went upstairs. I was laying on the laying 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:11.599 on the bed, looking up and I noticed it was 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:14.320 the first time in weeks that I wasn't obsessing about 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:17.120 all the things that were going wrong. And then that 0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:20.080 that that moment of clarity, I started to look to 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:22.960 the future and think about things getting better. That was 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:25.199 just one night, go to sleep, wake up the next morning, 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:26.640 and go on with my with my week. 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:29.480 The next two weeks of the season, I had back 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:29.960 to back. 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:32.640 Three hundred yard games, rushing three hundred yard games back 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:35.360 to back, and after that, I was like, Okay, there's 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:37.959 something there's something here, right, there's something here. 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:40.440 I'm not I'm not all in yet, but I can't. 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:42.160 Say that this is a bad thing because it just 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:44.080 helped me like get out of a phone right and 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:49.000 kind of change change to my season around. So like 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:52.000 when the Heisman Trophy, fast forward, go through a bunch 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:55.960 of the draft stuff, and during the draft prep, I 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:59.320 moved back to San Diego and had a little money, 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:01.640 you know, so I bought my first ounce. 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:05.239 I remember about my first out. 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:08.760 And this is this is you you you're this is. 0:10:08.760 --> 0:10:11.160 Right after my senior before the draft. 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:12.000 So it's never like. 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:15.400 You was just a dude just smoking before every game 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:16.240 or it. 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:18.439 Was never it was never that, but but it was 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:23.400 like a relationship was developing, you know, a relationship was developing. 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:25.240 So I had a little free time. I was training 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:27.560 and I just smoke a little bit to relax. But 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:30.760 I didn't have a real relationship at this point. I 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:33.280 just was messing around and I had some free free time. 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:36.760 I heard somebody say cannabis is synonymous with freedom, you know, 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:39.439 and I think because of the war on drugs. I 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:41.600 don't think it always has to be this way, but 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:43.720 I think because of the past and the war on drugs, 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:47.679 it kind of is right. We're either, you know, some 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:49.840 because some of my white friends, right, they had enough 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:51.320 money that if they got a little they got in 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:54.040 a little bit of trouble, nothing happened. So of us 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:55.560 if we got you know, we got put over and 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:57.320 we got a roach in the car. 0:10:57.480 --> 0:10:58.400 We're in the system. 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:01.520 So so since then I got a little money, I 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:03.360 got help. I can figure out if I get caught 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:04.679 with this little bit, so I had a little bit 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:09.000 of freedom. Then I get drafted to New Orleans and 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:10.600 I kind of put it aside because now I got 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:13.440 to focus on football. So go through my rookie year, 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:16.040 and my rookie year is a disaster. I mean just 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:18.280 mainly because of injuries. I just was hurt the whole year. 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:22.480 Second year, I trained really hard. I come back killing 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:25.640 it in week ten and I break my ankle. 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:26.280 Literally. 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:28.760 I broke my ankle on my thousandth yard. If you 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:30.520 look in the stats, you see I got a thousand 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:34.120 yards my second year in New Orleans just because it 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:34.839 was my ankle. 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:38.960 Snap. And something in me snapped at that moment because. 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:41.200 I realized I put all, like all my heart and 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:43.719 so into this game and it can just be taken away. 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:44.320 Literally like that. 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:47.000 Yeah, And so I thought, okay, I need to start 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:49.200 working on a plan. B you know what am I 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:51.720 going to do other than football? Because I can't trust 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:56.000 this and I wasn't playing and I was hurt. That's 0:11:56.040 --> 0:12:00.360 when I really started smoking, you know, And part of 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:02.680 it was you know, my body was healing, but most 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:05.560 of it was trying to get my mind right because 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:08.800 you know, as an adult, all my identity had been 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:11.600 put in to being a football player, and I wasn't 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:14.840 so attached to that anymore because I couldn't trust it, 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:17.320 and so I needed something to like over clear my 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:19.760 mind and try to figure things out. And that's when 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:22.840 I noticed myself smoking more so. About a year later, 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:25.320 I get traded to Miami, and I was in a 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:28.120 sweet spot right. It was kind of like back to 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:31.160 when I was in college where I was working on 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:33.120 putting the pass behind me. I had a new start 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:35.599 in Miami, and I was just thinking of like envisioning 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:37.240 what the season is going to be like. 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:39.440 So it's right. 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:42.120 Before it's right before the season starts, and I come 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:44.680 to work and there's a little like thing on my. 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:46.560 Locker that says you're being tested today. 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:51.720 I was like what Because NFL back then, NFL tested 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:54.680 only one time a year, but they had a big window, 0:12:55.120 --> 0:12:56.960 big window when they can test, but it was only 0:12:56.960 --> 0:12:59.079 one test when I was in New Orleans. That one 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:02.160 test was in training camp, and I thought when I 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:04.240 got to Miami that the test would be in training camp, 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:06.440 but it wasn't it was in the off season, so 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:10.079 that's when they got me. But again a couple of 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:12.320 times a week. But I wasn't like blowing before games 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:15.040 or anything. So I got I get popped, and then 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:17.439 I'm like, okay, well they got me, so I'll just 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:21.120 stop smoking. That That was my attitude that at that 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:25.840 point it's nothing but the first test. They just put 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:29.440 you in the program. And so when you're not in 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:33.160 the program, that test one annual test. When you are 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:36.240 in the program nine times a month, you get tested 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:39.080 nine times a month, and if you pop, then you 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:41.040 get a fine, and then if you pop again you 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:42.160 get the you get four. 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:43.960 Game suspension, and then you get a year suspension. 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:47.160 So I was I was just on the map where 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:48.760 I was getting tested nine times a month, and I 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:50.559 was like, it's fine, and they make you talk. 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:51.600 To the therapist once a week. 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:53.960 So I was like, you know, I can't hurt to 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:56.000 have someone to talk to, and I don't you know, 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:57.120 I'm good not smoking. 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:01.160 About four game in the season, I was like, I 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:01.640 can't do this. 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:06.480 If I smoking, you are to put your body on 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:10.360 the line. After I started smoking, and then I tried 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:11.800 to stop. I was like, I ain't going back to 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:13.280 the farm. I was like, I'm not going back to 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:16.280 that life. So then it was like, okay, how do 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:18.240 I keep smoking and pass the tests? 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:19.040 You know? 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:19.920 And then it took me. 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:21.520 A little while to figure it out, but I figured 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:23.840 out how to how to make it through with passing 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:27.160 the test. Had a little system, so I make it in. 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:29.480 The drug program is two years. You got to make 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:32.160 it through two seasons and then you're out of the program. Okay, 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.440 So found my little system. Made it through the first year, 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:39.800 good Pro Bowl, all that good stuff. You know, nobody knows, right, 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:43.000 nobody knows, but I'm good that next year I come 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:45.120 back again. That's back to where we were. My second 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:49.040 year in Miami, that's when everything kind of changed. So 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:51.280 so my second year in Miami, I was thinking it's 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:53.200 time for me to break the two thousand yeard rushing 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:55.440 mark and like put my name on a map. I 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:58.560 was like, this is it, you know, kind of all 0:14:58.640 --> 0:14:59.920 my eggs back in the basket. 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.920 I said, this is it. And it just didn't work 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:03.560 out that way. 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:06.120 The Dolphins didn't get a quarterback, and they just kept 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:07.960 giving me the ball, giving me the ball, giving me 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:11.040 the ball and my body was beat up. And I 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:13.920 remember we played the Eagles on it was Monday night. 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:16.320 I played the Eagles. 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:17.960 And we lost that game and we were at a 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:21.320 playoff contention, and I was hurt, and I remember I 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:24.360 smoked that night. I went to bed and the dude 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:26.200 was coming to drug test me at six in the morning, 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:28.120 So set my alarm. 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:29.840 I had my little system. I drink my little. 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:33.200 Drink, so my urine clear for five hours. Okay, so 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:34.240 I wake up early. 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:35.360 I was that late. 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:38.040 I woke up early, drank my drink, and then I 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:40.200 fell asleep because part of the system is you got 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:42.360 to drink, to drink twice and then you're good. But 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:44.280 I fell asleep and I woke up when he knocked 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:45.400 on the door, and I was like, damn. 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:49.400 I was like, I'll probably be fine. Pissed. 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:52.080 Got a letter of the next week that I fell 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:54.320 a drug test. So now it's the second drug the 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:56.880 second failed test. And the big thing about the second 0:15:56.920 --> 0:16:00.120 failed test is they find you. And the biggest thing 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:02.000 about the fine as they take it out of your check, 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:04.360 which means the team has to know that you failed 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:04.960 a drug test. 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:07.960 Okay, Okay, So this is the NFL. It's not even 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:08.360 the team. 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:12.520 It's not even the team. So the idea some players 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:14.560 don't care, some players do. I did at the moment, 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:16.960 so nobody knew I was in the drug program. 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:17.600 Nobody. 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:20.760 The NFL does a decent job of keeping it confidential, 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:23.520 so the team didn't know. But after that second test, 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:26.720 the public doesn't know, but the team knows, you know. 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:29.200 And it feels silly to say it now. But in 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:32.280 that time, like the team knowing that I smoked, it 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:36.600 was like, you can relate to this. It was like 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:40.640 they got something on me. Now you know they got something. 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:42.720 This is going to be what they point. 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:45.520 To exactly exactly when I go for a renegotiation to 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:48.280 get paid, right, they got they got something on me. 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:50.800 So I was like okay, So I kind of pushed 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.560 through that. And then something happened where it leaked to 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:56.200 the public that I failed a drug test, and that 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:58.440 was something. Again, it feels silly saying it now. 0:16:58.720 --> 0:16:59.120 That's something. 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:01.520 I don't think I was ready four right, it's one 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:03.040 thing the team knows and they're going to keep it 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:05.879 on the low. But now the public knows, you know, 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:10.600 and I not that my image was one hundred percent pure. 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:13.800 But at least back in two thousand and four, I 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:18.280 felt like, you know, it would tarnish my image. 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:21.560 I mean, I think most athletes at that point would 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:22.920 think that men four. 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:26.919 So I was kind of bent out of shape. And 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:29.800 at the same time, I was thinking, like, this is 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:31.720 a lot. You know, this is a lot. 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:32.280 And so. 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:36.280 When I fell another drug test and it was going 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:38.320 to be a four game suspension, I just said I'm out. 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:40.040 I said I'm good. I said it's time for me 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:43.359 to do something else. Anyway, I think the significant thing 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:46.800 about that moment is before then I didn't consider cannabis 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:50.240 is being medicinal, right, there was, at least in the 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:54.080 football world, there was nobody having that conversation, nobody talking 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:56.040 about it like that. So I thought I just was 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:58.920 smoking because that's what we do. But when I had 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:01.720 to stop while doing in the football season, I realized, 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:04.159 I'm not doing this just for fun. I'm doing this 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:07.840 because it helps, right. It helps my body, it helps 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:09.800 my mind. It helped me feel good about getting up 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:11.800 in the morning and doing this and doing this again. 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:12.239 Right. 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:17.120 And also I noticed that when I started smoking more 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:19.399 that I stopped taking the pills that they gave me 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:22.680 less and pills that they were giving me. They're giving 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:25.600 me Pax for my social anxiety, and they were giving 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:26.719 me intocend. 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:29.560 It's an insight, like an anti inflammatory. 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:32.840 And the guys would joke, It's like it's funny because 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:35.280 if you didn't take the anti inflammatory the night before, 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:39.480 your body was hurting at practice the next day. So 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:41.520 the guys would joke, you know, there's gonna be a 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:43.840 bad day if they forgot to take their pills. And 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:45.680 I started thinking about it. In order for us to 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:49.320 feel good to practice, we have to take pills. And 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:51.440 when I noticed I started smoking, I didn't have to 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:55.639 take as many pills to practice. And when I stopped 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:57.520 smoking because I felt drug test, I noticed I was 0:18:57.560 --> 0:18:59.480 taking a lot more pills and I just didn't feel 0:18:59.480 --> 0:18:59.840 good to me. 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:01.480 So just the side effects. 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:04.679 And again I wasn't reading anything, and there was no 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:06.280 one that was talking to me about it, so I 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:09.439 didn't have the language. But my own lived experience was 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:13.879 I prefer to the point where I jeopardize my career. 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:16.720 Is I prefer the cannabis because it felt more like 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:19.200 I was taking care of myself than the pills, where 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:21.159 felt more like I was masking stuff. 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:23.360 Right, Wow, that's real. 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:30.560 This is what I've realized about pharmaceuticals. It's like so 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:33.800 much about the pills that the doctor was giving me. 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:36.720 It was like to cover stuff up, to hide it, 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:38.080 to pretend like it wasn't there. 0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:39.480 Like the pills make it better. 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:43.439 But whether it was the anxiety or the underlying cause 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:46.040 of the pain, the pills didn't make it better. It 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:47.879 just put me in a position where I was pushing 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:50.720 myself beyond where it was good for me. And I 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:54.080 noticed with cannabis it was it was making me feel better, 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:57.520 but from a different perspective of being more aware of 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:00.040 what hurts, where I feel the pain, so that I 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:01.800 can go to treatment, so that I can stretch, so 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:03.960 that I can do something about it, rather than just 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:05.920 popping a pill and going about my business. 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:10.159 Yeah, well you popped the pill and then well everything hurts. 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:13.240 But when you a little more tuned in, you're like, oh, 0:20:13.320 --> 0:20:17.080 wait a minute, is this part of my knee that's yeah, okay, 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:17.600 And it. 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:21.520 Might seem simple, but true story, true story. My my 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:26.600 second year in Miami, I had this little, this little strain. 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:29.400 Right behind my calf muscle and go to. 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:31.439 The doctors and I'll try to get him to explain 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:32.520 it to them, and they didn't know what I was 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:35.679 talking about. And so finally I said screw it. And 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:38.920 we had like the medical books in the training room, 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:40.359 so I just got one of the books and I 0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:42.399 like looked at that part of my body and I 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:45.879 looked really closely, and I saw there's this little tiny muscle, 0:20:46.200 --> 0:20:49.840 you know, and I said, it's this is called the 0:20:50.000 --> 0:20:53.439 papladio muscle. I said, it's that muscle right there. And 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:55.840 once I showed the doctor what the muscle, exactly what 0:20:55.960 --> 0:20:57.480 muscle it was, they knew how to treat it and 0:20:57.480 --> 0:20:58.400 it got better that quick. 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:02.040 So I just found it's a different mindset. 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:05.480 And because I think the mindset of most athletes, hopefully 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:08.760 it's changing coming in is it's kind of like they 0:21:08.800 --> 0:21:11.040 can use my body anyway they want, and I have 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:15.119 to follow all their rules right, And to me, I 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:18.640 just couldn't make that work. So I think it's things 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:21.240 are changing and people in the leagues are allowing the 0:21:21.280 --> 0:21:25.080 players to consume cannabis. It is giving the players more 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:27.560 tools to be able to better take care of themselves, 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:29.879 and I think it helps just in the mindset of 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:34.000 an athlete. There's something that it does that allows us 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:36.879 to feel more free and not like we're boxed in 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:38.280 to do the work that they want us to do 0:21:38.320 --> 0:21:39.879 and we can't even take care of ourselves. 0:21:41.080 --> 0:21:43.359 As you're saying this, when you're saying you stepped away 0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:46.520 from it, I'm allowed a lot more insight, you know. 0:21:46.640 --> 0:21:49.280 I think people can now, Like just you saying that, 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:52.280 that's like, oh wait a minute, Like, yeah, that was 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:54.640 definitely decision for yourself. 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:55.560 Tell you, I can feel it. 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:57.160 I can feel like if I come back and try 0:21:57.160 --> 0:21:59.240 to do this, something's gonna I'm gonna get hurt because 0:21:59.280 --> 0:22:00.200 my heart's not in it. 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:01.480 I'm somewhere else. 0:22:01.640 --> 0:22:03.280 I had this taste of the things that I could 0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:06.240 be experiencing, and again I started doing the math, and 0:22:06.320 --> 0:22:09.760 I said, my life is short, and if I don't 0:22:09.800 --> 0:22:11.719 have take this time to get to know myself and 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:13.480 live a little bit now, I might never have the 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:16.320 opportunity to. And I feel like I accomplished everything I 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:19.359 wanted to and needed to with football, so I felt 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:20.880 good about taking that next step. 0:22:21.320 --> 0:22:22.520 I was free. 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:25.280 It was scary to make that call, but as soon 0:22:25.320 --> 0:22:28.840 as I hung up the phone, like the cannabis stuff aside. 0:22:28.880 --> 0:22:31.800 To me, I think cannabis was my ticket out. It 0:22:31.800 --> 0:22:33.800 gave me a way to get out. It truly did. 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:36.280 It opened my mind to even imagine that I could 0:22:36.280 --> 0:22:38.520 be something other than a football player. 0:22:38.960 --> 0:22:40.600 I think a lot of guys the reason they stayed 0:22:40.600 --> 0:22:43.400 playing football so long is they can't imagine themselves doing 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:46.840 anything else that would feel as good as football. And 0:22:47.680 --> 0:22:49.119 I started to see, I'm not gonna be able to 0:22:49.160 --> 0:22:50.520 do this for the rest of my life. I need 0:22:50.560 --> 0:22:54.280 to find something else I love. And when I started traveling. 0:22:54.200 --> 0:22:57.479 I was like, I love I love this experience. 0:22:56.960 --> 0:23:01.200 Of being able to go anywhere in the world and 0:23:01.320 --> 0:23:04.119 have an experience and be myself. And then I was 0:23:04.119 --> 0:23:06.199 traveling and I met this guy who gave me a 0:23:06.200 --> 0:23:09.800 book on alternative healing, and I started flipping through it, 0:23:10.080 --> 0:23:12.600 and I noticed there was a whole chapter on cannabis, 0:23:12.800 --> 0:23:14.520 and it was the first time that I had seen 0:23:14.560 --> 0:23:19.199 cannabis even mentioned alongside of something positive. So, of course, 0:23:19.400 --> 0:23:21.480 but my experience, I was all in this book and 0:23:21.520 --> 0:23:24.280 I started reading everything I could, and I started to 0:23:24.320 --> 0:23:26.399 realize there was a whole nother side of the story 0:23:26.400 --> 0:23:29.720 that we'd never been exposed to, and then I became 0:23:29.760 --> 0:23:31.760 passionate about trying to get to the bottom of that. 0:23:32.240 --> 0:23:32.560 Right. 0:23:32.640 --> 0:23:36.119 So, because you said you went to school for you've 0:23:36.160 --> 0:23:37.040 been to several. 0:23:36.920 --> 0:23:38.040 Yeah, I've been a bunch of school. 0:23:39.320 --> 0:23:39.960 When was it? 0:23:40.000 --> 0:23:44.000 Like, Yo, this is the because they call it alternative medicine, 0:23:44.000 --> 0:23:45.960 but I don't like to call it that because that 0:23:46.000 --> 0:23:48.080 tries to make it sound like it's crazy. 0:23:48.200 --> 0:23:51.840 I actually came wait before this, exactly. 0:23:51.920 --> 0:23:55.320 Yeah, this is the part of the conversation that I 0:23:55.359 --> 0:23:59.440 don't think anybody talks about enough, you know, and part 0:23:59.480 --> 0:24:01.360 of it is read we don't have the language. It's 0:24:01.400 --> 0:24:03.920 like the dark ages of cannabis. When it was made illegal, 0:24:04.320 --> 0:24:06.879 we lost we lost the language, we lost the way. 0:24:06.720 --> 0:24:07.760 People used to talk about it. 0:24:07.800 --> 0:24:09.720 But if you go back to the late eighteen hundred, 0:24:09.880 --> 0:24:12.000 doctors knew how to talk about cannabis, and they had 0:24:12.240 --> 0:24:14.200 they had some clarity about all the things that could 0:24:14.200 --> 0:24:17.520 help with But I feel like we've lost we'd lost 0:24:17.520 --> 0:24:19.760 our ability to how to talk about it. And I 0:24:19.760 --> 0:24:23.960 think the biggest the biggest motivation for my advocacy is 0:24:24.000 --> 0:24:28.439 to empower people with the language and the permission to 0:24:28.520 --> 0:24:32.840 share their actual experience about it. Because we're talking about 0:24:32.880 --> 0:24:35.560 something that happened in two thousand and four, two thousand 0:24:35.600 --> 0:24:38.080 and five. It took ten years from there before I 0:24:38.119 --> 0:24:41.440 really felt confident enough to be an advocate right. And 0:24:41.760 --> 0:24:43.960 up until that point, my advocacy was. 0:24:43.960 --> 0:24:47.080 Not lying about it, right, not lying. 0:24:46.880 --> 0:24:49.960 Too much about right. That was my advocacy is somewhat 0:24:49.960 --> 0:24:52.320 telling the truth. And I remember when I came up here, 0:24:52.359 --> 0:24:55.720 right after I retired, I was sitting interviewing for sixty 0:24:55.800 --> 0:24:58.960 minutes with Mike Wallace, and Mike Wallace asked me, point, Blake, 0:24:59.280 --> 0:25:01.760 you know NFL tested you right now. 0:25:01.600 --> 0:25:04.440 Would you pass the drug test? And I remember like. 0:25:04.400 --> 0:25:07.120 Sitting there and like being nervous because all these people 0:25:07.200 --> 0:25:09.040 are watching, you know, And I was like, I have 0:25:09.080 --> 0:25:12.320 an opportunity to lie or to tell the truth, you know, 0:25:13.000 --> 0:25:16.879 And somehow and I told the truth right, And to me, 0:25:17.320 --> 0:25:20.200 that was the That was the first, my first form 0:25:20.280 --> 0:25:24.439 of true advocacy. But it wasn't until ten years later 0:25:24.560 --> 0:25:27.080 where I was at. I was living in Austin because 0:25:27.119 --> 0:25:29.520 I went back to school after I retired, and a 0:25:29.560 --> 0:25:31.240 teammate of mine, Kyle Turley. 0:25:31.119 --> 0:25:33.159 Big big time advocate, he's all in. 0:25:33.560 --> 0:25:36.320 He called me up and he said, hey, there's a 0:25:36.400 --> 0:25:39.639 cannabis conference at the convention Center in Phoenix, won't you 0:25:39.680 --> 0:25:41.919 come out and tell your story? And I was in 0:25:41.960 --> 0:25:43.520 Austin and I was getting a lot of flak for 0:25:43.640 --> 0:25:46.280 my reputation, so I was like, I'm good. 0:25:46.400 --> 0:25:48.440 I said, I'm good, and I hung up. 0:25:48.320 --> 0:25:50.000 The phone and I sat there and I thought about it, 0:25:50.000 --> 0:25:52.359 and I was like, first, I was like. 0:25:52.400 --> 0:25:55.119 There's a cannabis convention at a convention center. 0:25:55.359 --> 0:25:56.159 I was like whoa. 0:25:56.520 --> 0:25:58.600 I was like okay, and then I thought, you know, 0:25:59.600 --> 0:26:02.480 fuck it. Everybody knows I smoke anyway. So I called 0:26:02.520 --> 0:26:04.000 them back up and I was like, I'll do it. 0:26:04.520 --> 0:26:07.199 That's when that real advocacy started. I remember I went 0:26:07.200 --> 0:26:09.639 to Phoenix and I was sitting on this stage is 0:26:09.680 --> 0:26:10.679 probably like one hundred. 0:26:10.400 --> 0:26:11.600 And fifty people in the audience. 0:26:12.080 --> 0:26:14.080 And it was the first time that I told my 0:26:14.200 --> 0:26:17.959 story that I actually shared how it made me feel 0:26:18.359 --> 0:26:21.800 and how I used it, and it was like it 0:26:21.840 --> 0:26:24.560 was cathartic. It was healing, you know, because it was 0:26:24.600 --> 0:26:27.760 something that I kept inside that I didn't talk about, 0:26:27.800 --> 0:26:32.240 and to share with people right powerful, most powerful though 0:26:32.240 --> 0:26:35.840 it was afterwards, twenty twenty thirty people came up to 0:26:35.880 --> 0:26:38.399 me afterwards and basically told me I was their hero. 0:26:38.960 --> 0:26:41.200 And because I hadn't put myself out there, I didn't 0:26:41.200 --> 0:26:42.840 have exposure to the way that my. 0:26:42.880 --> 0:26:44.240 Story touched a lot of people. 0:26:44.800 --> 0:26:47.520 Because the way it unfolded for me, I kind of 0:26:47.520 --> 0:26:51.680 felt like a coward, you know. But to see that 0:26:51.960 --> 0:26:54.800 because I, you know, tried, I made an effort that 0:26:54.840 --> 0:26:57.679 it really inspired other people. When their parents or their 0:26:57.720 --> 0:27:00.159 coaches were giving them a hard time about smoking, they 0:27:00.200 --> 0:27:03.440 could point to me and say, look, you know, he doing. 0:27:03.280 --> 0:27:07.280 It, and look at him. I was like, WHOA. And 0:27:07.320 --> 0:27:09.879 I remember something my mom always says. He says, go 0:27:09.880 --> 0:27:11.879 where you're celebrated, not where you're tolerated. 0:27:12.240 --> 0:27:15.560 And I felt like in that cannabis convention, right for 0:27:15.640 --> 0:27:17.720 the first time since I failed a test. 0:27:17.800 --> 0:27:21.040 That I was actually being celebrated, you know, without. 0:27:21.280 --> 0:27:24.359 Without the astro, you know, and people would like the 0:27:24.400 --> 0:27:27.040 stories would even if someone wrote a positive story about me, 0:27:27.160 --> 0:27:29.000 right at the bottom, they would say he failed multiple 0:27:29.080 --> 0:27:31.679 drug tests, right, And I was like, right, like, we 0:27:31.800 --> 0:27:33.760 really need to throw that in everything. 0:27:34.760 --> 0:27:35.879 You don't. 0:27:36.680 --> 0:27:38.560 It's going to be funny to see how it evolves 0:27:38.640 --> 0:27:43.280 because most of us, most of us adults now have 0:27:43.400 --> 0:27:46.639 come out of a place where the prohibition, where it 0:27:46.760 --> 0:27:50.000 was always something different or you had to hide it. 0:27:50.400 --> 0:27:53.840 But I imagine, you know, maybe even my youngest kid 0:27:54.000 --> 0:27:57.520 or pretty soon after, it's not going to have that 0:27:57.600 --> 0:27:59.600 stigma so much that they have to deal with, so 0:27:59.720 --> 0:28:02.000 they to have more of a clean slate. And I 0:28:02.000 --> 0:28:04.119 think what they come up with and how they use 0:28:04.160 --> 0:28:06.040 it is gonna be even We're gonna see it keep 0:28:06.040 --> 0:28:07.080 growing and evolve. 0:28:07.000 --> 0:28:11.000 Right, and then it might not even be as abusive 0:28:11.040 --> 0:28:13.199 as I would say how I used it, you know, 0:28:13.320 --> 0:28:15.840 because now you don't have to run off somewhere, you 0:28:15.840 --> 0:28:18.679 don't have to go to one person's basement, and you 0:28:18.680 --> 0:28:21.080 don't have to put a bunch of spray on and 0:28:21.160 --> 0:28:22.520 eye drops and try. 0:28:22.280 --> 0:28:23.000 To whole thing. 0:28:23.560 --> 0:28:25.919 Like now you feel like now you're like, okay, I 0:28:26.000 --> 0:28:29.640 just needed two quick hits, but now it's this whole process. 0:28:29.640 --> 0:28:32.119 So you're like, I gotta finish it. Yeah, you know, 0:28:34.480 --> 0:28:37.560 I can't bring it back home like I got so yeah. 0:28:37.600 --> 0:28:42.320 So that's that's insightful, man, because so for me, I 0:28:42.360 --> 0:28:46.280 do comedy and I did Last Common Standing and I 0:28:46.320 --> 0:28:50.800 had some weed jokes in there, and I remember there 0:28:50.880 --> 0:28:52.680 was people like, man, you're not gonna be able to 0:28:52.680 --> 0:28:55.040 talk about weed. It's gonna be on NBC, and I'm like, 0:28:55.400 --> 0:28:58.680 at this point, it's legal in California. It's like I'm 0:28:58.720 --> 0:29:02.480 talking about something that's happening. And I wound up winning 0:29:02.480 --> 0:29:04.520 the show. But it was one of those things where 0:29:04.520 --> 0:29:07.080 it's like, no, I knew what I was talking about. 0:29:07.160 --> 0:29:09.440 I just had to you know, you just had to 0:29:09.440 --> 0:29:10.480 push through and believe you. 0:29:11.160 --> 0:29:11.880 Yeah. 0:29:11.440 --> 0:29:12.480 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:29:12.560 --> 0:29:16.040 So I mean I definitely looked at you on the 0:29:16.080 --> 0:29:19.120 sports side and I'm like, no, like, there's so many 0:29:19.120 --> 0:29:21.400 people that tried to put that on. Oh, well you're 0:29:21.440 --> 0:29:23.920 gonna not You're not gonna have drive, You're not gonna 0:29:23.920 --> 0:29:25.960 have ambition, You're not gonna you know. 0:29:26.040 --> 0:29:26.880 What I'm not. 0:29:26.960 --> 0:29:30.760 Able to do is deal with all y'all putting stuff 0:29:30.800 --> 0:29:31.080 on me. 0:29:31.320 --> 0:29:32.920 But I'm able to deal with it when I have 0:29:33.000 --> 0:29:33.280 a look. 0:29:33.520 --> 0:29:35.400 I'm telling you, I had a conversation today and the 0:29:35.520 --> 0:29:37.720 dude talking to me, he's like, yeah, it's like I smoke. 0:29:37.560 --> 0:29:38.520 To treat my adhd. 0:29:39.160 --> 0:29:41.840 I was like, no, no, no, I was like, you spoke 0:29:41.920 --> 0:29:43.880 to deal with the people that are trying to like 0:29:44.240 --> 0:29:49.680 label you the way you are. Yeah, So that's that's 0:29:49.800 --> 0:29:52.160 actually And then we got to it. That's the deeper 0:29:52.200 --> 0:29:54.760 reason why I was saying I can't do this if 0:29:54.800 --> 0:29:59.280 I spoken, you know, it's just being around. This is 0:29:59.320 --> 0:30:02.280 real talk, okay, because part of the part of the 0:30:03.200 --> 0:30:07.120 drug conversation is about people using substances or whatever to 0:30:07.320 --> 0:30:10.200 escape their problems. Okay, and that's real. But you don't 0:30:10.200 --> 0:30:12.280 need cannabis to do that. There's a lot there's a 0:30:12.280 --> 0:30:14.280 lot you can watch TV, there's a lot of ways. 0:30:14.400 --> 0:30:15.440 There's a lot of ways. 0:30:15.240 --> 0:30:15.600 To do that. 0:30:16.200 --> 0:30:19.480 And when I launched my brand Heisman, our tagline is 0:30:19.480 --> 0:30:22.320 sparked Greatness because that's my background and that's my story, 0:30:22.720 --> 0:30:25.800 and my thing is cannabis helps us recover, Okay, but 0:30:25.840 --> 0:30:27.520 if you ain't doing shit, you don't have nothing to 0:30:27.560 --> 0:30:30.640 recover from, right, So it has to be it has 0:30:30.680 --> 0:30:34.640 to be a balance of actually doing something right, because 0:30:34.680 --> 0:30:37.480 even the creativity has to be the balance of doing 0:30:37.520 --> 0:30:40.640 something right and the need to like come back afterwards 0:30:40.640 --> 0:30:43.120 and reflect and make the connection so that you can 0:30:43.160 --> 0:30:45.680 go back and do it again right. And and so 0:30:46.560 --> 0:30:50.720 I realized that football, I was good at it, but 0:30:50.800 --> 0:30:52.800 I had like it wasn't really what I was supposed 0:30:52.840 --> 0:30:55.080 to be doing. In order to keep myself doing what 0:30:55.200 --> 0:30:56.520 I wasn't supposed to be doing. 0:30:56.880 --> 0:30:58.560 I had to smoke, you know. 0:30:59.120 --> 0:31:03.080 And and and I think that's part of the definition 0:31:03.160 --> 0:31:05.200 of medicine because sometimes in life we have to do 0:31:05.280 --> 0:31:06.880 things that we don't really want to do, but we 0:31:06.920 --> 0:31:08.840 have to learn to take care of ourselves while we're 0:31:08.840 --> 0:31:11.360 doing it. But also the recognition of when it's time 0:31:11.400 --> 0:31:12.680 to move on and do something else. 0:31:16.800 --> 0:31:19.840 I wanted to ask you, what's your relationship with the NFL. 0:31:20.320 --> 0:31:24.240 Are you advocating with them or is it a relationship 0:31:24.240 --> 0:31:24.920 with them now? 0:31:25.760 --> 0:31:29.560 I've had several conversations with the NFL, mainly on the 0:31:29.600 --> 0:31:33.920 Players Association side, because when I was going through my appeals, 0:31:33.960 --> 0:31:36.720 when I fell drug tests, the part of an appeal 0:31:36.840 --> 0:31:39.600 process is they send someone from the Players Association to 0:31:39.680 --> 0:31:42.720 support you. But at the time, cannabis was still so 0:31:42.800 --> 0:31:46.120 stigmatized it wasn't really much support, you know. They just 0:31:46.200 --> 0:31:48.200 kind of sat off in the corner, like didn't say 0:31:48.240 --> 0:31:52.880 anything anything to fit me. And so the conversations I've 0:31:52.920 --> 0:31:55.000 had with them is really getting them to change their 0:31:55.000 --> 0:31:58.360 attitude about cannabis, to say, this is not about substance. 0:31:57.920 --> 0:32:00.720 Abuse, this is about wellness, you know. 0:32:01.240 --> 0:32:03.000 And I've been talking to him about that over and 0:32:03.040 --> 0:32:06.280 over again, and finally they started to listen and in 0:32:06.280 --> 0:32:09.400 the last collective parting agreement, they said, we're taking cannabis 0:32:09.400 --> 0:32:13.560 off the table as a negotiating piece for substances of 0:32:13.600 --> 0:32:15.520 abuse and we're talking about. 0:32:15.280 --> 0:32:16.120 It as wellness. 0:32:16.320 --> 0:32:18.480 And that's what started to get the NFL to lighten, 0:32:18.800 --> 0:32:22.320 so they don't suspend players anymore for filling cannabis tests. 0:32:22.720 --> 0:32:27.560 They've raised the amount of THC metabolites in the urine 0:32:27.720 --> 0:32:30.560 to like three hundred and fifty nanograms per milli leader 0:32:31.000 --> 0:32:33.200 And that doesn't make sense, that doesn't mean anything to anyone, 0:32:33.240 --> 0:32:36.840 but it's basically, you have to have a huge cannabis 0:32:36.880 --> 0:32:39.520 problem in order for the NFL to get on the 0:32:39.600 --> 0:32:41.800 NFL's radar, where when I was, you just had to 0:32:41.840 --> 0:32:43.960 have a little system. 0:32:45.280 --> 0:32:49.400 Where can people or how can people do what you're doing, 0:32:49.640 --> 0:32:52.800 or how can they support what you're doing and advocate 0:32:52.960 --> 0:32:56.400 for the wellness side of the cannabis industry. 0:32:56.880 --> 0:33:00.240 Yeah, So what we've seen in the past decade is 0:33:00.280 --> 0:33:04.840 the NFL really changing their stance about head injuries, for example. 0:33:04.960 --> 0:33:09.320 So there's been a huge shift where because of the fans, 0:33:09.400 --> 0:33:11.840 really because of the fans that the NFL is having 0:33:11.880 --> 0:33:14.760 to take player safety more seriously. 0:33:14.400 --> 0:33:15.400 And they they've done it. 0:33:15.840 --> 0:33:19.040 And I think when cannabis gets lumped into that conversation 0:33:19.160 --> 0:33:22.560 about player safety and player wellness, I think that's when 0:33:22.560 --> 0:33:25.520 the NFL really starts to listen. When on social media, 0:33:25.960 --> 0:33:28.160 you know, they're seeing people say it's a travesty that 0:33:28.200 --> 0:33:30.440 these guys aren't allowed to take care of themselves with 0:33:30.520 --> 0:33:34.000 natural through natural means, and they're forced to take pharmaceuticals. 0:33:35.280 --> 0:33:38.800 And I already know that's what's been opening the NFL's 0:33:38.920 --> 0:33:41.520 minds those that kind of talk. And I think the 0:33:41.600 --> 0:33:45.680 more fans right become more player centric and saying, you know, 0:33:46.040 --> 0:33:49.040 for what Riggy Williams, you know, puts his body on 0:33:49.080 --> 0:33:51.600 the line to do all those things, he should definitely 0:33:52.000 --> 0:33:59.000 be allowed to consume cannabis to take compared to the alternatives. 0:34:00.760 --> 0:34:03.640 Yeah, And I mean in the grand scheme of things, 0:34:03.640 --> 0:34:08.440 it would benefit them. You're getting you're getting the whole person, 0:34:08.600 --> 0:34:11.200 or at least you know them, closer to one hundred 0:34:11.239 --> 0:34:14.040 percent than just trying to keep putting the band aid 0:34:14.120 --> 0:34:15.840 on whatever's actually wrong. 0:34:16.080 --> 0:34:19.480 But also the alternative because and this is this is 0:34:19.520 --> 0:34:21.440 when I talk to the NBA players right. This is 0:34:21.440 --> 0:34:24.560 the argument that they used in the bubble helped. But 0:34:24.640 --> 0:34:28.960 the argument that NBA players used was, you know, after 0:34:29.280 --> 0:34:32.160 after a game and they have a specific story. 0:34:32.200 --> 0:34:34.360 I think they must have all got a line. 0:34:34.120 --> 0:34:37.120 They said, those specific games that we have back to backs, 0:34:37.640 --> 0:34:40.680 They said, after a game are adrenaline is so hyped up? 0:34:41.080 --> 0:34:43.439 You know that we don't have the ability to come down, 0:34:43.760 --> 0:34:46.120 so a lot of us are drinking and doing other things. Right, 0:34:46.200 --> 0:34:48.440 imagine if we could smoke that allow us to come 0:34:48.480 --> 0:34:50.759 down and get ready to do it the next day. Right, 0:34:50.800 --> 0:34:52.640 that's the car. They all say the same thing, and 0:34:52.640 --> 0:34:56.279 they use the back to backs. But I think when 0:34:56.320 --> 0:34:59.319 you humanize and it's easier to humanize basketball players because 0:34:59.320 --> 0:35:00.360 they're not wearing help and. 0:35:00.360 --> 0:35:01.160 All these pads. 0:35:01.280 --> 0:35:03.680 But I think when you humanize the athlete and you 0:35:03.760 --> 0:35:07.480 realize what we're doing and the amount of stress physical emotional, 0:35:07.560 --> 0:35:10.800 mental stress, and the alternatives we have to nurture ourselves 0:35:11.760 --> 0:35:14.800 based on the current landscape right now, it's just the 0:35:14.880 --> 0:35:19.319 compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care 0:35:19.360 --> 0:35:19.880 for themselves. 0:35:19.920 --> 0:35:24.440 Right, And like what you've done in allowing other athletes 0:35:24.520 --> 0:35:28.120 to step forward help everybody, because like you said, it 0:35:28.160 --> 0:35:32.719 helps athletes take care of theirselves. The compassion for somebody, well, 0:35:32.760 --> 0:35:35.320 it's the same thing for people who have cancer. 0:35:35.360 --> 0:35:37.360 Are the kids who have seizures. 0:35:36.920 --> 0:35:39.440 Or anybody who else is using it, like you said, 0:35:39.520 --> 0:35:41.759 medicinally and to help with wellness. 0:35:42.360 --> 0:35:44.640 And I think you put it a lot. 0:35:44.520 --> 0:35:46.920 Of ways just we're talking to you right here, that 0:35:47.080 --> 0:35:49.239 a lot of people don't look at it. A lot 0:35:49.239 --> 0:35:53.839 of people just are from that you know DARE program 0:35:54.239 --> 0:35:58.719 just say no reaf madeness era where oh it's you're 0:35:58.760 --> 0:36:02.680 a druggie, you're a druga and taking that out of it, 0:36:02.719 --> 0:36:04.920 like you said, giving people the right language to be 0:36:04.960 --> 0:36:06.040 able to talk about. 0:36:06.560 --> 0:36:09.640 I think the language and permission are the two biggest 0:36:09.680 --> 0:36:11.480 things because if people don't have permission, you can have 0:36:11.520 --> 0:36:14.120 the language, but they ain't gonna use it right. And 0:36:14.200 --> 0:36:16.040 if people have the language but they don't have permission, 0:36:16.040 --> 0:36:17.600 they're going to hide. 0:36:17.840 --> 0:36:20.520 So it's like you got to have you got to 0:36:20.560 --> 0:36:21.040 have both. 0:36:21.080 --> 0:36:23.200 And I feel like I'm in a position where I 0:36:23.200 --> 0:36:25.680 can talk right and as I talk, people can pick 0:36:25.760 --> 0:36:27.520 up the language of how I talked about. 0:36:27.320 --> 0:36:30.640 It ways that it related to them. But permission, right, 0:36:30.680 --> 0:36:32.560 that's where the advocacy work comes. 0:36:32.360 --> 0:36:35.480 In because when the NFL stops testing or takes it 0:36:35.520 --> 0:36:37.840 off the list, all the players that were too afraid 0:36:37.960 --> 0:36:39.600 but they're in a lot of pain, but they are. 0:36:39.520 --> 0:36:41.200 Too afraid to try it. 0:36:41.200 --> 0:36:43.960 It opens the door all the people in the world, 0:36:44.000 --> 0:36:46.680 right that know they need some help and whatever the 0:36:46.719 --> 0:36:49.680 doctor said isn't working, but they don't want to break 0:36:49.719 --> 0:36:52.600 the law. I think it's the first time in my 0:36:52.640 --> 0:36:56.400 life where I have appreciated, truly appreciated the power of 0:36:56.440 --> 0:36:56.920 the law. 0:36:57.440 --> 0:37:00.200 Right, it's real. 0:37:00.880 --> 0:37:02.320 I've been too DC three times. 0:37:02.400 --> 0:37:05.719 Right right before then, I was like, but this came up, 0:37:05.760 --> 0:37:09.080 and I was like, because just being in the industry, 0:37:09.120 --> 0:37:12.640 I've seen so many people and I heard so many stories, 0:37:12.719 --> 0:37:15.680 right aside from my own, I heard so many stories, 0:37:15.680 --> 0:37:18.200 and it's it's not even about me anymore. It's about 0:37:18.239 --> 0:37:20.520 realizing that because of my story, I have the ability 0:37:20.600 --> 0:37:23.279 to open doors and hopefully allow other people to have 0:37:23.360 --> 0:37:24.400 access in relief. 0:37:24.840 --> 0:37:29.000 Right, Yeah, what can people do to advocate on their 0:37:29.080 --> 0:37:32.040 own or you know, just try to get the thing 0:37:32.160 --> 0:37:34.080 pushed legally to where it needs to be. 0:37:34.280 --> 0:37:37.480 Yeah, So I think what individuals can do is just 0:37:38.160 --> 0:37:41.239 be honest. It's just right, and it's not like take 0:37:41.280 --> 0:37:43.359 a flag and wave it around, you know, at your 0:37:43.440 --> 0:37:44.279 kid's soccer game. 0:37:44.680 --> 0:37:45.919 It's not it's not that. 0:37:45.960 --> 0:37:48.479 But if you're if you're around a mom or someone 0:37:48.560 --> 0:37:49.880 and they say, you know, I have a headache or 0:37:49.920 --> 0:37:52.919 I can't sleep, you know, and you know that taking 0:37:52.920 --> 0:37:55.240 a five milligrand gummy has helped you sleep? 0:37:55.440 --> 0:37:59.400 Right, just say something, you know, because it's not about hiding, 0:37:59.440 --> 0:37:59.920 it's about it. 0:38:00.120 --> 0:38:02.839 You have something that might offer someone some relief, and 0:38:02.960 --> 0:38:04.839 they might look at you like you're crazier say no. 0:38:04.960 --> 0:38:08.600 But they hear that enough times, right, because sometimes it's 0:38:08.600 --> 0:38:10.360 not the first time, and it doesn't feel good to 0:38:10.400 --> 0:38:12.400 be the first one to put up the idea and 0:38:12.400 --> 0:38:15.120 the person say that's crazy, But you say it once 0:38:15.120 --> 0:38:16.600 they hear it from someone else. To hear it from 0:38:16.600 --> 0:38:18.200 someone else, to hear it from someone else in their 0:38:18.239 --> 0:38:20.640 mind is more open. So I think we can all 0:38:20.640 --> 0:38:23.960 be advocates by just sharing our story, by being real. 0:38:25.280 --> 0:38:27.320 More specifically towards the NFL. 0:38:27.680 --> 0:38:30.840 You know, if a story comes out or you see something, 0:38:31.040 --> 0:38:31.719 don't be like. 0:38:31.719 --> 0:38:34.720 Everyone else and put the same tag why was he smoked? 0:38:34.760 --> 0:38:36.040 Why? Right? 0:38:36.760 --> 0:38:39.799 I get it, But that doesn't help, you know, So 0:38:39.800 --> 0:38:42.319 it's another version of just being honest, right, you know, 0:38:42.960 --> 0:38:45.759 and if I was giving a pep talk is to like, 0:38:46.040 --> 0:38:48.799 you know, I say, find yourself in history, you know, 0:38:49.280 --> 0:38:52.560 in the future, let's say ten fifteen years down the road, right, 0:38:52.760 --> 0:38:54.920 this is going to be a part of our everyday life, 0:38:55.200 --> 0:38:56.920 you know. And do you want to be the person 0:38:56.960 --> 0:38:58.960 that's like, damn, I missed the boat on that one, 0:38:59.040 --> 0:39:00.360 or do you want to be the one that feels 0:39:00.360 --> 0:39:04.800 good because you helped get it to that exactly exactly. 0:39:06.120 --> 0:39:08.520 Thank you, Thank you for inviting us out here. 0:39:08.920 --> 0:39:11.960 And I've got to come back out here at some 0:39:12.000 --> 0:39:14.120 point because I got to check out some of the 0:39:14.200 --> 0:39:17.120 some of the scenery out here. But thank you again, man, 0:39:17.520 --> 0:39:21.160 one Drugs Podcast, Ricky Williams, Thank you so much. 0:39:21.200 --> 0:39:21.399 Man. 0:39:21.480 --> 0:39:23.600 I feel like I'm a survivor of the world Drugs. 0:39:23.640 --> 0:39:25.319 You are a survivor. 0:39:25.440 --> 0:39:28.759 You definitely you a general at this point, Like, yeah, 0:39:28.880 --> 0:39:31.840 you definitely a general. You came out of it and 0:39:32.040 --> 0:39:36.359 you pulled more people through than what they put you through. 0:39:36.440 --> 0:39:39.800 So we appreciate thank you. Thank you. 0:39:42.480 --> 0:39:44.760 There it is Ricky Williams. 0:39:44.440 --> 0:39:49.040 Man in his own words, Uh yeah, it was great 0:39:49.120 --> 0:39:51.600 to be there and just just hear his side of 0:39:51.600 --> 0:39:57.799 the story. And how he really wanted his freedom. 0:39:56.880 --> 0:39:59.880 Peace by the way to you can you can peace. 0:40:00.080 --> 0:40:03.360 You can feel his like genuine like at EA's. 0:40:03.360 --> 0:40:06.000 Yeah, yeah, to find something that kind of works for 0:40:06.080 --> 0:40:09.080 you For me, I'm like, man, think about how many 0:40:09.200 --> 0:40:11.920 other people weren't able. 0:40:11.600 --> 0:40:16.320 To find that? Yeah, So what talent, what ability? What genius? 0:40:16.360 --> 0:40:20.000 Are we missing in the world because we put this 0:40:20.680 --> 0:40:24.200 stipulation on this one plane. 0:40:24.480 --> 0:40:27.040 Now, something that Ricky was talking about the kind of 0:40:27.080 --> 0:40:28.879 triggers on to me was, you know, kind of this 0:40:29.400 --> 0:40:32.719 thing of like medicinal versus recreational and what's accepted and 0:40:32.760 --> 0:40:35.480 what's not, and you know, someone having anxiety dealing with 0:40:35.480 --> 0:40:37.640 these things at the peak of their powers, really actually 0:40:37.680 --> 0:40:40.719 trying to use something in a way that is medicinal. 0:40:41.200 --> 0:40:43.440 Like all the arguments that people have, Oh, people just 0:40:43.440 --> 0:40:46.000 want to go this is not what was happening here. 0:40:46.160 --> 0:40:48.400 This was a person trying to deal with this. 0:40:48.520 --> 0:40:52.120 And it's crazy how far we have come. I think 0:40:52.120 --> 0:40:55.239 in that conversation, because if Ricky's saying that on his 0:40:55.320 --> 0:40:58.320 own podcast or someone else's or what's going on about 0:40:58.320 --> 0:40:59.960 his use on that, I think we look at the 0:41:01.080 --> 0:41:03.840 today in a completely different light, like, oh, he has anxiety. 0:41:03.840 --> 0:41:06.239 I think it's really good that he's talking about. Like 0:41:06.640 --> 0:41:09.600 then it was you know, Mike Lupika and the Sports Report, 0:41:09.640 --> 0:41:11.360 all these were like this guy is a bomb and 0:41:11.400 --> 0:41:12.799 a bus. All he wants to do is party and 0:41:12.800 --> 0:41:14.920 have a good time. And it's like, no, that's what 0:41:14.960 --> 0:41:17.000 everyone else is kind of doing. Like this guy's actually 0:41:17.040 --> 0:41:19.400 not like he's trying to see something and trying to 0:41:19.400 --> 0:41:21.680 put his hand up and everyone's like, put your hand down. 0:41:21.800 --> 0:41:23.080 And it wasn't that long ago. 0:41:23.920 --> 0:41:25.960 And one of the things that he said too, that 0:41:26.040 --> 0:41:28.080 I think kind of ties into what you were just saying, 0:41:28.239 --> 0:41:31.080 is a lot of times people don't have the language 0:41:31.120 --> 0:41:33.120 to talk about it, right, he said at that time, 0:41:33.280 --> 0:41:36.359 he didn't have, you know, it was he couldn't put 0:41:36.360 --> 0:41:39.000 it into words. He didn't know that, oh, okay, this 0:41:39.160 --> 0:41:42.440 actually helps with that. He knows it's helping him. But 0:41:42.520 --> 0:41:44.600 how are you going to tell somebody when the whole 0:41:44.680 --> 0:41:47.600 world looks at it, Like you just said, you're just 0:41:47.640 --> 0:41:49.560 trying to get hot, You're just trying to party. 0:41:49.600 --> 0:41:52.320 You're just a weed head. Yeah, you're you're a stoner. 0:41:52.960 --> 0:41:56.560 And now that we do have the language and capacity, 0:41:56.600 --> 0:41:59.719 no matter which side of it, you're on. These are 0:41:59.800 --> 0:42:02.560 kind conversations that can be had. These are conversations that 0:42:02.600 --> 0:42:04.640 can be talked about even if you don't if you 0:42:04.640 --> 0:42:06.920 want to keep your kids away from weed, or if 0:42:06.960 --> 0:42:12.359 you want to be able to have it medicinally. Now 0:42:12.360 --> 0:42:17.399 that we have these words like it helps with anxiety 0:42:16.760 --> 0:42:20.560 and mental health. Yeah, it's all of these things that 0:42:20.640 --> 0:42:24.960 I don't think we're even thought of saying in the 0:42:25.000 --> 0:42:26.839 same sentence with marijuana. 0:42:27.000 --> 0:42:27.160 Yeah. 0:42:27.360 --> 0:42:29.759 I mean, like you couldn't talk about being like, hey, 0:42:29.880 --> 0:42:33.000 I don't think I should play now, you're not tough, 0:42:33.120 --> 0:42:35.440 And it was like, oh, you can't. Ricky was always 0:42:35.440 --> 0:42:37.480 he can't deal with the pressure, right, and it's like, 0:42:37.640 --> 0:42:39.600 what does that even mean. I'm just supposed to be 0:42:39.719 --> 0:42:41.440 dealing with the pressure. 0:42:41.280 --> 0:42:43.000 And at the same time, oh, you're dealing with paint. 0:42:43.000 --> 0:42:46.720 Come take this right exact Yeah, yeah, come get this shot. 0:42:47.080 --> 0:42:48.719 And then the turk guy, like the health guy, will 0:42:48.760 --> 0:42:50.040 be like, yeah, he can get you a few more 0:42:50.120 --> 0:42:52.200 like yeah, I mean you hear those stories about the 0:42:52.239 --> 0:42:55.919 pill passing and like the greenies, like the coffee they're 0:42:55.960 --> 0:42:57.640 taking amphetamines. 0:42:56.960 --> 0:42:57.480 In the eighties. 0:42:57.960 --> 0:42:59.359 Yeah, it's unbelievable. 0:43:00.160 --> 0:43:02.920 Yeah, And so again that's why hearing these stories, particularly 0:43:02.960 --> 0:43:05.759 someone that was like in the middle of this area 0:43:05.800 --> 0:43:08.160 and where we've come now and hearing like how it's 0:43:08.200 --> 0:43:10.799 different for athletes, and you know, you think even like 0:43:11.000 --> 0:43:15.560 very recently Shikari Richardson she got suspended and even a 0:43:15.600 --> 0:43:18.040 lot of the pushback on her it really was like, well, 0:43:18.080 --> 0:43:21.520 this is her fault. She's wrong, like she should have known, 0:43:21.560 --> 0:43:23.360 and like, you know what it's and if. 0:43:23.200 --> 0:43:25.360 She wasn't able to tell her side of. 0:43:25.239 --> 0:43:27.880 It right exactly, probably roll with that. 0:43:27.960 --> 0:43:29.759 And who knows if she would ever got back into 0:43:29.760 --> 0:43:30.240 the Olympics. 0:43:30.360 --> 0:43:32.040 Yeah, and you saw the push I mean there was 0:43:32.280 --> 0:43:33.719 I would I don't know what there was, but I 0:43:33.760 --> 0:43:37.000 assume the vast majority of folks in our country were like, 0:43:37.120 --> 0:43:39.880 this is not something that she should be knocked. 0:43:39.640 --> 0:43:41.520 Out of the Olympics. And I think there was a 0:43:41.560 --> 0:43:44.319 lot more empathy on her for she was. 0:43:44.480 --> 0:43:47.279 Asked the question had been asked right after a race, 0:43:47.800 --> 0:43:52.600 ties back into anxiety, mental health issues, those type of things, 0:43:52.600 --> 0:43:55.640 and me, you know me, come on, man, she won 0:43:55.719 --> 0:44:05.040 a race. She should get an extra metal like she won. Yeah, 0:44:05.360 --> 0:44:07.600 give her an extra little add on, man, You know 0:44:07.600 --> 0:44:10.279 how to give you the thing when you graduated, like 0:44:10.360 --> 0:44:14.080 give her an extra little sash because. 0:44:13.719 --> 0:44:18.319 She is crazy's looking to that. 0:44:18.400 --> 0:44:21.200 Yeah, so special. 0:44:21.280 --> 0:44:25.160 Thank you to Ricky Williams. His family had his kid there. 0:44:25.640 --> 0:44:27.080 Reminded me of being with my son. 0:44:27.160 --> 0:44:31.200 It was great. Yeah, that's that's the first episode. 0:44:31.320 --> 0:44:33.960 What we got up next another amazing athlete. 0:44:34.360 --> 0:44:36.040 But we're going to talk a little bit more about 0:44:36.080 --> 0:44:38.960 actual physical pain and that's with Liz Carmose. She's a 0:44:39.000 --> 0:44:44.520 veteran m M, A fighter, gorilla, total badass. She's going 0:44:44.600 --> 0:44:47.000 to talk about some of her you know, in a 0:44:47.120 --> 0:44:50.200 world of combat sport where you're constantly under injury and 0:44:50.239 --> 0:44:53.600 strain and training. CBDs really helped her with her training 0:44:53.600 --> 0:44:56.000 and keeping at the top of her game so long 0:44:56.080 --> 0:44:57.560 in that sport, which you know, it's a pretty short 0:44:57.560 --> 0:44:59.040 shelf life for a lot of folks. 0:44:59.080 --> 0:45:00.640 And so we'll this ball rolling. 0:45:00.640 --> 0:45:03.600 But what an awesome guest to kick off with Ricky Williams. 0:45:03.640 --> 0:45:05.880 Awesome that you gotta do at Clay and amazing like 0:45:06.160 --> 0:45:07.920 in his home, Like it's cool to get to get 0:45:07.920 --> 0:45:10.440 that vibe and it's been awesome to travel around and 0:45:10.440 --> 0:45:11.520 see these people where they're at. 0:45:11.800 --> 0:45:14.600 Again, special thank you to Ricky and awesome. 0:45:14.760 --> 0:45:15.720 That was a war on drugs. 0:45:17.480 --> 0:45:19.680 The War on Drugs is a production of Lava for 0:45:19.760 --> 0:45:23.440 Good and Stand Together Music and association with Signal Company 0:45:23.520 --> 0:45:27.240 Number one. Stand Together Music unites musicians and their teams 0:45:27.280 --> 0:45:30.360 with proven change makers to co create solutions to some 0:45:30.400 --> 0:45:33.720 of the most pressing issues in our country, including criminal justice, 0:45:33.719 --> 0:45:38.880 for foreign addiction, recovery, mental health, education, free speech, and 0:45:39.040 --> 0:45:42.680 ending the War on drugs. Learn more at Standogether Music 0:45:42.840 --> 0:45:47.239 dot org. Be sure to follow Lava for Good on Instagram, Facebook, 0:45:47.360 --> 0:45:50.920 and threads at Lava for Good. You can follow Clayton 0:45:50.960 --> 0:45:54.319 English on Instagram, n X at Clayton English, and you 0:45:54.360 --> 0:45:57.359 can follow Greg Laude on Instagram and on X at 0:45:57.400 --> 0:46:02.680 Greg Latt. Executive producers Jason and Flahm, Jeff Kempler, Kevin Wardis, 0:46:03.000 --> 0:46:07.360 and Collette Wintraub. 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