WILLIAMS FAILS THIRD DRUG TEST

Even if retired Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams changes his
mind and decides to return to football this season, he will be forced
to serve a four-game suspension after failing a third drug test for
marijuana use.

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
Coach Dave Wannstedt of his decision to quit football.

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 had already decided to quit football even
before testing positive a second time for marijuana use last season
and incurring a $650,000 fine.He appealed that fine, flying to New
York to argue his case before an arbiter with his attorney, but
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 and Europe and failed a third test
upon his return. He 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 before the last such test after returning from Europe.

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

Williams said the Dolphins didn't know of his third failed test or
even the results of his appealed second one. NFL confidentiality rules
prevent teams from commenting on player drug issues, with a possible
penalty of $500,000.

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 subjected to
eight to 10 random urine tests a month at his home.

Williams said he continued smoking throughout his time as 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. Upon retirement, Williams
originally said that he hadn't learned yet of the results of his
appeal and that the NFL's drug rules didn't run him off but rather
merely reinforced that his lifestyle didn't belong in the regimented
football world.

Williams, who suffers from social-anxiety disorder and was a
spokesperson 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. Williams has Marley tattooes all over his body, named his first
child Marley and is friends with Marley's children.