Pubdate: Fri, 30 Jul 2004
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2004 The Miami Herald
Contact:  http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author: Dan Le Batard and Jason Cole
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Ricky+Williams (Ricky Williams)

Miami Dolphins

WILLIAMS' DRUG USE HAD ROLE IN DECISION TO RETIRE

Ricky Williams admitted Thursday that marijuana played a larger role in his 
retirement than he originally indicated, and that he learned of a third 
failed test and upcoming suspension just days before informing Dolphins 
coach Dave Wannstedt of his decision to quit football.

The former Dolphins running back would have faced a mandatory four-game 
suspension and been fined as much as $876,000, the equivalent of four 
weeks' pay, had he played this year. Earlier last week before Williams 
announced his intention to retire, he learned that the appeal of his second 
failed drug test from December was denied, meaning he would have been fined 
an additional four weeks' pay for a total of just over $1.7 million in fines.

Williams said, however, that there were "a hundred reasons" for his 
retirement and that his desire to continue smoking marijuana without 
inhibition was merely one of them.

He said he was not addicted to the drug, but merely that he didn't believe 
in government and NFL laws banning it. He said he was already thinking 
about quitting football even before testing positive a second time for 
marijuana in December and incurring the four-week fine.

"I didn't quit football because I failed a drug test," Williams said . "I 
failed a drug test because I was ready to quit football."

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league was "not permitted to comment 
because of the confidentiality clause of the league's substance abuse policy."

"We knew nothing about it," Wannstedt said through a team spokesman. "I'm 
totally surprised and shocked again."

Williams appealed the results of his second drug test in April, flying to 
New York to argue his case in front of an arbiter with his attorney, but he 
received word last week that his appeal had been denied. While the appeal 
was pending, Williams said he continued smoking marijuana while on tour 
with rocker Lenny Kravitz in Europe and failed a third test upon his return.

Williams said he had been using a masking agent to cleanse his system while 
being randomly tested for two seasons, but said he didn't even bother using 
any agents before the last such test after returning from Europe. He said 
the Dolphins didn't know of his third failed test or even the results of 
his appealed second one. His fines are based on his base salary of $3.735 
million and will not be paid if he doesn't play.

Losing Interest

Williams failed his first drug test soon after arriving in Miami in 2002. 
He spent much of his two seasons with the Dolphins in the league's drug 
program, seeing a therapist weekly and submitting to eight to 10 random 
urine tests a month at his home.

Williams said he continued smoking throughout his time with the Dolphins, 
stopping only for a month here and there, but passed random tests by 
drinking 32 ounces of a masking agent called Extra Clean and chasing it 
quickly with 32 ounces of water.

Gary Ostrow, the attorney who represented Williams in his appeal, said he 
believes Williams began to lose interest in football after the Dolphins' 
12-0 loss at New England on Dec. 7. Williams' second positive test came 
after an exam on Dec. 10.

In the loss to the Patriots, with a temperature of 28 degrees at kickoff, 
the Dolphins were shut out for the first time in two years. Williams rushed 
for a meager 68 yards and the offense finished three drives with turnovers 
and failed to gain a first down in nine possessions.

"That game, that loss, he took extremely hard," Ostrow said. "I spoke to 
him about it and that's what he talked about. He took it so hard, I think 
he lost interest in keeping himself clean.

"He stopped taking his cleansing agent. That's where he slipped up. . . . 
You are talking about someone with enormous pride in what they do. That 
loss hurt."

Ostrow also said he believes Williams is "cementing" his retirement with 
such open discussion of the positive drug tests.

'His comments, his open discussion of everything he has done -- where he 
talked about how he took the cleansing agent -- he's cementing the idea 
that he's done. He's telling everybody, 'I don't care what I say or what I 
do because I'm not doing this again,' " Ostrow said.

Alternative Medicine

Williams, who suffers from social-anxiety disorder and was a spokesman for 
the anti-depressant Paxil, said marijuana helped him once he had to stop 
using Paxil because it didn't agree with his diet. "Marijuana is 10 times 
better for me than Paxil," he said. Williams said he doesn't see anything 
wrong with marijuana because it is "just a plant" and his hero, Bob Marley, 
admitted to smoking it daily.

Ostrow thinks Williams will eventually want to play again.

"I believe he's going to want to come back in a year after he has gotten 
all of this out of his system," he said. "I'm sure he's feeling a sense of 
freedom right now, from the [NFL substance abuse] program. But I think the 
desire will come back." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake