Ricky Williams Says a "Weed Fairy" Followed Him After His NFL Career Was Over

You may know that ex-Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams dabbles in the consumption of cannabis. As a player, he tested positive at least twice for the stuff and never shied from acknowledging its use. If Ricky's name comes up in a word-association game, marijuana is definitely the second thing you think of, if not the first. You may even think football and weed at the same time.

For Dolphins fans, few ex-players bring up more memories than Williams — good and bad. Back in 2004-2006, the mention of weed and Ricky Williams pissed off most fans. Now, years later, Williams has become a medical cannabis advocate, and recreational marijuana is legal in ten states. The thought of Ricky just makes most Dolphins fans smile.

He seems like a man who is genuinely happy and finally comfortable in his own skin. He eventually came back to the Dolphins — thrice — and was part of the miraculous 2008 wildcat season, in which the team used a strange formation and finished ahead of the Patriots — which still doesn't make sense. It's all good now. Ricky Williams is just a big, pot-smoking, CBD-oil-dropping teddy bear who will give you a deep massage or teach you yoga if you ask. You can't be mad at that.

Indeed, we have since learned that during his NFL career, marijuana helped Williams battle mental health issues such as social anxiety disorder, borderline personality disorder, and avoidance disorder.

This makes it supereasy to enjoy awesome stories like the next one, which involves multiple countries, strangers, and, of course, marijuana. According to Ricky, weed fairies followed him after his retirement — not literally, but figuratively. We think.

As he traveled the world from Fuji to Australia, these ethereal beings pulled him into the comforting arms of cannabis. At each stop, people would offer him pot. The stories are awesome. They sound straight out of the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach.

In an interview with Herb recently posted to YouTube, Williams described how a "negative narrative" surrounded him and his marijuana use after he left the NFL. The subject of weed continued to come up — but in a much more positive light.

"As I hit the road and started traveling — I called it the weed fairy — all these different places I traveled [cannabis would come up], without me going to look for it, in some weird-mysterious-synchronistic way," Williams told Herb.

Williams talks about meeting a kid on a bus in Fuji who offered him marijuana on a rice dish, then took him to his cousin's grow farm. In a small Australian beach town, an "older white guy in a Bob Marley shirt," whom Williams describes as essentially homeless and a "great gardener," got him the ganja.

These days, Williams says his body feels better than it did 15 years ago. He credits this largely to the use of medical marijuana, CBD oils (of which he has his own line), and holistic behaviors such as meditation, acupuncture, and yoga. Nobody can suspend or fine Ricky anymore. He's free to use cannabis as he pleases.

He continues to employ the stuff for his health and overall happiness. But he knows when and how to partake in cannabis consumption.

"Buddha says anything can be medicine for you if you use it at the right time in the right place, and anything can be poison for you if you use it at the wrong time in the wrong place," he says. "The way I use cannabis in my life, across the board, is based on that idea: Is this the right time? Is this the right place?"

Bless Ricky Williams. We don't deserve him and his weed stories. Someone start a podcast filled with just Ricky Williams weed tales, ASAP.