Drug WarRant

[DdC]

NFL's Buzzkill Yahooka

Ricky Williams should probably be smoking pot
Andrew Sullivan on the Drug War and Football:

More pharmaceutical double-standards with respect to pain-relief. It seems any addictive pain-killer is fine with the NFL. Oxycontin? Have a Limbaugh-sized dose. But marijuana? You'll be suspended.

How often does our irrational prohibition of marijuana end up forcing people to take drugs that are more harmful to them?



The buzz about Ricky
Sean Fitz-Gerald, National Post

Published: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 MISSISSAUGA - Some of the small children invited to frolic with the Toronto Argonauts under the morning sun started dropping like wilted leaves when midday approached. An ambulance was summoned for one little girl who collapsed under the weight of the haze, and a handful of her sweaty peers sought refuge in the shade before it disappeared altogether.

Players were not immune, baking as they were inside heavy shoulder pads and helmets that became little more than solar-powered ovens. But not all of them looked relieved when the workout ended yesterday, especially Ricky Williams. Because as much as he has tried, the running back has never found anything but temporary relief from the heat associated with football.

"One thing about Toronto," he said, "is everyone here is so nice."

In Texas, they considered Williams a deity. In New Orleans, he was a "weirdo." In Miami, he was a saviour, then a traitor, a pothead and all of the above.

Williams has been controversial in part because he can not be defined. He walked away from the National Football League in the prime of his career two years ago because he wanted to seek The Truth. That the search also happened to include copious amounts of marijuana only served to stoke the fire of moral indignation among those he had left behind.

The 29-year-old was suspended last month for the entire 2006 NFL campaign after he lost the appeal on his fourth failed drug test. But it wasn't until Sunday that the Miami Dolphins finally granted him permission to serve out his punishment playing for the Argos.

His arrival in Toronto drew criticism from those who believe the CFL should respect NFL suspensions, and from those who believe Toronto is acting at the height of hypocrisy for embracing a known pot smoker at the same time the franchise is attempting to act as a mentor for area school children.

But when he sat in the centre of it all on Sunday, during his introductory media conference at Rogers Centre, Williams was often seen looking off into some distant corner of the room. He wore a bemused grin and a distant air that made it almost seem like he was watching the whole thing unfold on television.

"You'll learn that Ricky is a completely dichotomous person," said Chris Jones, a writer for Esquire. "There's two sides to every side of his personality."

Jones spent eight days with Williams in Australia in the fall of 2004, months after the running back abandoned the Dolphins on the eve of training camp. Williams spoke with candour about his desire to live off the land, about his love for football and his dislike of so much that has come to surround the game.
And there was, of course, the marijuana.

"He's not a stoner," Jones said. "You wouldn't know he was smoking dope. You could have a totally normal conversation with him. He's definitely not a Cheech and Chong stoner, like, 'Oh dude, I'm so stoned.' He was just really mellow."

The marijuana, Jones said, was to help Williams deal with his oft-crippling social anxiety disorder.
It was that disorder that made Williams conduct media interviews without first removing his helmet. It also led to a famous episode where, as a passenger in a car pulling up to a nightclub, he became overwhelmed with the increasing attention and scrambled across the street.

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RICKY WILLIAMS AND THE NFL'S BRAIN DAMAGED POLICY by Stephen Young, (Source:DrugSense Weekly) 10 Mar 2006

NFL's Buzzkill: No Beer at Giants Stadium by Paul Armentano
Washington Examiner OpEd

Following a string of violent incidents - including a pair of stabbings - between rowdy football fans during the team's previous games, Giants Stadium officials made the bold move to halt sales of the intoxicant. The rationale for the ban? Jets spokesman Ron Colangelo could not have been more blunt: "It's for the safety of our fans."

Alcohol's long-standing association with aggressive behavior, whether it's among raucous sports fans or late-night bar patrons, is well-publicized and much debated. Yet, a relevant fact that is often overlooked in this public discourse is that an alternative, almost equally consumed intoxicant, is rarely, if ever, linked with violence - - marijuana. However, unlike alcohol, marijuana is illegal and not only at Giants Stadium.



Hypocrisy 101: Why is Ganja even tested?

Run Ricky Run by Fred Gardner
Ricky Williams won't be playing in 2004. In late July he made two related announcements: that he was retiring from football, and that he found marijuana to be "10 times more helpful than Paxil" as a confidence builder.
(Glaxo has purged him from the Paxil website.)

Ricky Williams Feared Public Reaction to Marijuana Use

Stoner sportsmen
In team sports around the globe, top players love to get high.

Ricky Williams Latest Victim of Marijuana Prohibition
NFL Star's Choice of Relief for Social Anxiety Disorder Forces Him to End Career Prematurely
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- NFL star Ricky Williams is the victim of a double standard that punishes private, adult use of marijuana while turning a blind eye to flagrant alcohol abuse, the Marijuana Policy Project announced today.

Legalize It! July 29, 2004


MIAMI (AP) -- July 29, 2004
Retired Dolphins running back Ricky Williams said he failed a third drug test for marijuana use, which would cost him a four-game suspension if he decides to return to the NFL, The Miami Herald reported on its Web site Thursday.

Fans Too Relaxed for Fights

Cannabis Helps Keep Fans Calm
Police also claimed that the availability of cannabis in the Netherlands probably helped to defuse any violence. Scores of ticketless England fans gathered in coffee shops in Eindhoven, where cannabis is sold and smoked, to watch the game, greeting the defeat with mild disappointment and unusually, gentle applause. "It (cannabis) may have helped relax them," Mr Beelan added. "Even the hooligans enjoyed the party - and they told our officers. There were lots of things for fans to do and everybody had a good time."

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Tired of alcohol-fueled violence in sports?
The Washington Post covers the dangerous alcohol-fueled behavior
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Communities Tell Big Alcohol “Stop Using Kids as Billboards!”
Advocates reject alcohol-labeled T-shirts sold to young shoppers at JC Penney stores

"All propaganda must be so popular and on such an intellectual level, that even the most stupid of those towards whom it is directed will understand it. Therefore, the intellectual level of the propaganda must be lower the larger the number of people who are to be influenced by it."

Just Say No?

"Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way around, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise.
From Benito Mussolini
contributing to the "London Sunday Express," December 8, 1935

Beer will get you laid, well ...


Advertising like political propaganda is the art of getting people
to believe in a dream world and advertisers know what buttons to push,

college students and binge drinking
Harvard university Study Finds that More College Sports Fans Binge Drink Than Non-Fan Students. Targeted Marketing and Advertising by the Alcohol Industry is Likely to be Influencing Fans' Heavy Drinking



Under the Influence
A compilation of Alcoholic-Beverage Industry Political Contributions to Members of the Appropriations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1997-1998

While few in politics claim that political contributions "buy" votes, almost everyone would agree that political contributions create access for the donor to express his or her ideas to a politician, and they often help produce an "open mind" that is conducive to a sympathetic understanding of the donor's views.

Alcohol-Industry Contributions
The alcoholic-beverage industry contributed a total of $294,690 to members of the House Appropriations Committee during the last election cycle (See Tables 3A and 3B). On average, members of the committee received $4,829 from alcoholic-beverage industry sources during the 1997-98 time period.

The Drug War Refugees

Ganja/Hemp: The alternative to Booze, Petro Chem Poisons and Pharmaceuticals!

U.S. law enforcement spends $7.5 to $10 billion
annually enforcing marijuana laws.
Keith Stroup, (NORML)
U.S. law enforcement paraphernalia corporatists
make $7.5 to $10 billion annually enforcing marijuana laws.

Cannabis Buyers Clubs: Articles & Info



The 'Virtues' of Ganja
Alcohol vs Marijuana...
Reduce family and community violence
Alcohol use makes domestic violence 8 times more likely. . .
Marijuana use does not.

Safer Choice * Change The Climate



"Cannabis can be used on an episodic but continual basis without evidence of social or psychic dysfunction. In many users the term dependence with its obvious connotations, probably is mis-applied... The chief opposition to the drug rests on a moral and political, and not toxicologic, foundation"
The USA Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy 1987



Ricky - making so much sense! betED.com

In his now weekly scrum with media, today Ricky Williams came across as a guy who really isn't thinking about football that much right now but seems to be happy nonetheless.

"I was sitting at home last night and thinking if there was anywhere in the world I'd rather be or anything I'd rather be doing," he said. "And the answer was there was nothing.

Motivated at least partly by the need for a paycheck, the 2002 NFL rushing champion ended his one-year retirement and rejoined the Dolphins on July 25.

Some of the other quotes of note he made:

* He said he doesn't miss marijuana. "I can't do that anymore. I get tested twice a week."

* He owes the Dolphins $8.6 million for breaching his contract by retiring last year, but said he doesn't know his financial situation. "I have no idea. The way I live my life, if I have a place to stay and I have food on the table, I'm not broke."

* He said he doesn't think about the war in Iraq and won't join the military. "There's a war outside, but I think there's also a war inside all of us. When you talk about world peace and people doing all these things for peace, and they want peace and want to be treated fairly, I think it really starts with yourself and looking for the peace inside yourself. When each of us can do that, then the peace spreads outward."

* He said he's not having fun since returning to football, but doesn't mind. "You look across from fun and you see work. The fun is the result of hard work. If you work hard you get to the fun. & The process of coming to work every day gives me more and more freedom."

* Teammates tease him about his scruffy beard, saying he looks homeless, but he sees no reason to shave. "Some people have a job, some people's wives don't like it, some people are uncomfortable with it. But I don't have a reason to shave."

* His first tattoo was Mighty Mouse in green and gold, his San Diego high school's colors. "I was at Venice Beach with my girlfriend at the time, and I said it would be cool to get a tattoo. The way I look at them, they're somewhat of a map. You see a tattoo, and you think back to a time in your life."

With all the recent flap over one Terrel Owens, how can you not sit back and wish for more players with the calm demeanor of Ricky Williams in the NFL? We'd take him over TO, any day of the week.

[DdC]

Ricky Williams' focus can go a long way
toward the Dolphins' success in 2008.
NFL: Associated Press 8.5.8 DAVIE, Fla

The sweat is beading on Ricky Williams' head, glistening in a sun-kissed South Florida afternoon. His jersey is stained with dirt, and there are almost as many chunks of grass stuck on his helmet as there are on his cleats.

It's the end of another two-a-day practice, and the Miami Dolphins running back is headed to the film room, then to lift weights and study his playbook. Williams is working hard again, showing the kind of effort that once made him the NFL's leading rusher and a Heisman Trophy winner in college.

He still has that quiet demeanor that can make him seem detached from football, appearing as if he doesn't care about the game or how he's perceived. His past behavior might tell the same story: the early retirement, the marijuana use and the subsequent suspensions.

He's been labeled a quitter by some, selfish by others, and his free spirit nature has opened him up to punch lines. But the controversial running back, who failed the league's substance abuse test five times, cares about his football legacy. For him, this season is partly about changing how he will be remembered.

"The way I left made it difficult," Williams said. "To come back and clear my name is important to me."

At 31, what else is important?

"No. 1, it's a good salary," he said. "There's not many jobs where you make this kind of money."

So far, he's earning it.

Williams didn't miss a voluntary practice in Miami's strict offseason workout program under the new Bill Parcells-led regime. He has bulked up to about 230 pounds, the weight he played at in his prime. And with Pro Bowlers Jason Taylor and Zach Thomas long gone, Williams is trying to be a leader.

"He finishes every run. Within his individual drills, I see the guy working hard to get better," first-year coach Tony Sparano said. "I think the guy shows up each day, and he has a purpose when he practices.

He's been perhaps the best player on the field during training camp. His talent is why no less than four Miami coaching staffs have put their faith -- and the team's future -- on his legs, even though he's flaked out on them every time. Of course, the question with Williams has never been about his skills. It's how long will he last?

"That's always going to be in the back of some people's minds -- can the guy make it?" defensive end Vonnie Holliday said. "We know that when Ricky Williams gets on the field and suits up that he's going to give you 100 percent effort, and you know that he's going to go to the wall for you.

"He's an unbelievable player. But it's just keeping him on the field. It's like one of those things, you have to show me. You have to go out and give me a full season. I don't think anybody's worried about it. But it's just a matter of him going out and getting it done."

Williams' history has led to such skepticism.

Then-New Orleans coach Mike Ditka did nearly everything but sell the franchise to move up to the fifth spot in the 1999 NFL draft and select Williams, who was traded to Miami after three up-and-down seasons and was placed in the league's substance abuse program soon after. Ditka was fired for the team's poor performance.

Williams had an NFL-best 1,853 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns in the 2002 season. Then his career -- and the Dolphins franchise -- was torpedoed by a second positive drug test the following year and a suspension for the first four games. Just before the start of training camp in 2004, he tested positive for marijuana a third time and announced he was going to retire.

Williams took a soul-searching trip around the world, which included living in tents in Australia and India. He began studying holistic medicine, practicing yoga and teaching his beliefs before making a return to football.

"Ricky is really weird," linebacker Channing Crowder joked. "Why he did all that we'll never know."

His shy nature has added to Williams' oddball reputation.

He has conducted post-game interviews wearing his helmet and a tinted visor to avoid eye contact. He posed on the cover of ESPN the Magazine in a wedding dress with Ditka. And he's been known to go into the darkroom at Dolphin Stadium after games and talk with photographers editing his pictures, part of his interest in the craft.

Yoga and photography keep him grounded, Williams says now. Somewhere between stretching into yoga's downward-facing dogs and fiddling with the depth of field on his cameras, Williams said his hobbies have replaced his need for drugs.

"I got a whole bag of tricks to stay focused," he said.

The Dolphins, coming off an embarrassing 1-15 season, are banking that he does.

Williams returned last year, but his comeback lasted less than one half. He gained only 15 yards on six carries before he fumbled, was stepped on and tore his chest muscle against Pittsburgh. Teamed with Ronnie Brown, who was on pace for a career season in 2007 before he tore ligament in his right knee, Miami's running backs have lofty expectations.
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The duo is hoping to become the first NFL tandem in 23 years to each rush for 1,000 yards. That feat has not been accomplished in Miami since Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris did it in the 1972 perfect season.

"For myself and Ricky, the positive competition is always good," Brown said. "We're just trying to make each other better."

Somewhere in his travels -- including a brief stint in the Canadian Football League -- Williams said he found his peace. His dreadlocks and beard are gone, part of "growing up" he says, and his speed seems to have returned.

He wants to go back to college and "find a real job" after football to help support his four children. When pressed about how long he plans to play, he could only mutter, "We'll see."

And that's how it's always been with Williams -- wait and see. What could have been a Hall of Fame career had he stayed in the game and stayed clean might always be incomplete.

"If nothing else," Williams said, "I just want to make sure I don't do anything to make it any worse."


J. Pat Carter/Getty Images