#24 | From Heisman to Highsman with Ricky Williams

Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams opens up about cannabis, social anxiety, and the NFL on The Hybrid, the cannabis policy podcast hosted by two former state regulators.

Shawn Collins and Erik Gundersen sit down with Ricky Williams, founder of the cannabis lifestyle brand Highsman and co-founder of Project Champion, along with Project Champion President Gretchen Gailey. Ricky shares the story most people never heard: the night at the University of Texas that changed his relationship with the plant on the way to the Heisman and the NCAA rushing record, the social anxiety diagnosis that finally gave his struggle a name, his years as the face of Paxil, and the decision to walk away from the NFL at the peak of his career. He describes the education that followed, from Ayurveda and herbal medicine to yoga teacher training in India, and how it shaped the healer and entrepreneur he became.

The second half turns to cannabis policy. Gretchen explains how Project Champion brought Ricky, Jim McMahon, and Kyle Turley together as a bipartisan coalition of former professional athletes lobbying for cannabis and hemp reform, including the Texas hemp fight, federal rescheduling, and the Massachusetts ballot question that would repeal adult use legalization. Ricky and the hosts also dig into celebrity cannabis brands, consumer trust, athlete health, and what state regulations get wrong from the perspective of a multi-state brand founder.

Learn more about Project Champion and support their work: https://www.projectchampion.org

The Hybrid is hosted by Shawn Collins, founding Executive Director of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, and Erik Gundersen, founding Director of the Maine Office of Cannabis Policy. Each episode brings conversations on cannabis policy, regulation, hemp, and the marijuana industry with the people shaping it.

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