Jesse Scheckner
Twenty years after a weed suspension prompted him to retire from the NFL, former Miami Dolphins running back, current NFL Hall of Fame nominee and pot entrepreneur Ricky Williams is backing Amendment 3 to legalize cannabis in Florida.
Smart & Safe Florida, the campaign that led a push to get Amendment 3 on the November ballot, announced Williams’ support of the change, which would decriminalize pot in Florida for people 21 and older.
“I know firsthand the ostracizing and debilitating effects the criminalization of cannabis can have,” Williams said in a statement.
“I want to pay my experiences forward, end the unjust criminalization and prejudice over cannabis, and bring Florida to the same level of freedom that over half of the country already enjoys. We can accomplish this by voting ‘Yes’ on 3 this November.”
A longtime cannabis user and advocate, Williams made headlines as a Dolphin in 2004 when he retired for a year after the NFL suspended him for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. He returned the following year after paying fines, but issues related to his pot use persisted despite his excellent on-field performance.
Williams — who legally changed his last name in 2022 to that of his wife, Linnea Miron — has long been an advocate for the legalization and medicinal benefits of cannabis. The College Football Hall of Fame inductee and Heisman Trophy winner has his own brand, Highsman. He has also pushed for the NFL to offer players cannabis treatment for their ailments instead of opioids.
He joins a growing list of notable figures voicing support for Amendment 3, including ex-President Donald Trump, boxing legend Mike Tyson, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, rapper Wiz Khalifa, Republican Sen. Joe Gruters, Democratic Sen. Shevrin Jones, Democratic Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan, Democratic Gadsden County Sheriff Morris Young and Democratic Broward County State Attorney Harold Pryor.
Groups supporting the measure include Athletes for Care, ACLU of Florida, the Florida Democratic Party, SEIU Florida and the Libertarian Party of Florida.
Smart & Safe Florida spokesperson Morgan Hill said Williams’ story is “an important case study for why passing Amendment 3 is an important, long-necessitated step forward for Florida.”
“No one deserves to have their life changed simply for using marijuana,” Hill said. “We are grateful to have his support and look forward to continuing to grow this vast coalition behind legalizing adult use recreational marijuana for Florida.”
Amendment 3 must receive at least 60% of the vote on the Nov. 5 ballot to pass, and polling shows support is at or near that threshold.
The Republican Party of Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis and other high-ranking state officials, including Attorney General Ashley Moody, are fighting the proposal and encouraging voters to reject it. That includes a counter-campaign, Keep Florida Clean, run by James Uthmeier, the Governor’s Chief of Staff.
The Florida Police Chiefs and Sheriffs Associations are also opposing Amendment 3, as is billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, who has vowed to spend $12 million to defeat the measure.
5 comments
Brian Kelly
September 23, 2024 at 2:45 pm
Legalize federally now. What’s legal to possess and consume in over half of the populated areas of The United States should not make you a criminal in states still being governed by woefully ignorant prohibitionist politicians.
Cannabis consumers in all states deserve and demand equal rights and protections under our laws that are currently afforded to the drinkers of far more dangerous and deadly, yet perfectly legal, widely accepted, endlessly advertised and even glorified as an All-American pastime, alcohol.
Plain and simple!
Legalize Nationwide Federally Now!
It’s time for us, the majority of The People to take back control of our national cannabis policy. By voting OUT of office any and all politicians who very publicly and vocally admit to having an anti-cannabis, prohibitionist agenda! Time to vote’em all OUT of office. Period. Plain and simple.
Politicians who continue to demonize Cannabis, Corrupt Law Enforcement Officials who prefer to ruin peoples lives over Cannabis possession rather than solve real crimes who fund their departments toys and salaries with monies acquired through cannabis home raids, seizures and forfeitures, and so-called “Addiction Specialists” who make their income off of the judicial misfortunes of our citizens who choose cannabis, – Your actions go against The Will of The People and Your Days In Office Are Numbered! Find new careers before you don’t have one.
The People have spoken! Get on-board with Cannabis Legalization Nationwide, or be left behind and find new careers. Your choice.
Ron Ogden
September 23, 2024 at 3:08 pm
““I know firsthand the ostracizing and debilitating effects the criminalization of cannabis can have,” Williams said in a statement.”
Nonsense! This just gets sadder and sadder with this kind of “poor me” crapola. Having laws that control substance or behavior involving substances does not ostracize or debilitate anyone. It is BREAKING those laws and getting caught at it and being exposed to justice for breaking those laws and then having to admit that you are someone who put his own pleasure ahead of respect for the law–these are the things that lead to being ostracized an debilitated. Don’t want to suffer the consequences? Don’t break the law! How much more simple can that be?
Jay Dub
September 24, 2024 at 8:34 am
How many times have you drove 1mph over the speed limit? You broke the law. How many times have you not come to a complete stop at at stop sign when nobody else was in sight? You broke the law… Worse all you religious zealous type usually commit the worst crimes which many times includes children. Go be a charlatan somewhere else, PLEASE!
Butt and beave
September 24, 2024 at 2:59 pm
It should be for snort too. I mean it would be bias not to.
Humans..
So what’s next on the lobby world
TJC
September 26, 2024 at 10:48 am
Williams has a good point, drug laws have been used to target people of color for decades, while the cops pick and choose which whites to pursue.
But I have a problem with this “you can’t grow your own” clause in the proposed law. It would be illegal, still, to grow your own. We are allowed to brew our own beer at home for personal use, make homemade wine, and yet the Pot Head-Bosses want to tell us it will be illegal to grow a marijuana plant — for personal use — in our back yard. They want total control. They want every penny they can get out of legalization.
That greed may be the undoing of the whole effort to legalize. Not some conservative politician with genuine misgivings about the issue, not cops with genuine fear of what it might mean if it leads to more people driving under the influence.
Just greed. If the effort to legalize fails, if the Pot Head-Bosses who crafted this proposal see their efforts fail, they had it coming.