Featuring Thai Richards, Interviewed by: Jai Morzaria

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Ten years ago, the idea of cannabis and serious athletics existing in the same sentence would have sounded like a punchline. Athletes were expected to keep their relationship with cannabis quiet. Cannabis lived in a different cultural zip code, associated with rebellion, nightlife and getting high, while sport belonged to discipline, sacrifice, recovery and performance.

Then the culture started moving.

Now you can find cannabis and athletics intersecting on city streets, at run clubs, inside wellness communities and among a new generation of athletes who are less interested in hiding the plant than explaining what it means to them.

New York might be the clearest example. On any given run, the cast can look less like a traditional starting line and more like a collision of modern culture: athletes, DJs, musicians, entrepreneurs, creatives, cannabis advocates and people who simply showed up because they wanted to move.

Wiz Khalifa. A$AP Ferg. Diplo. Thai Richards. Different worlds, different reasons for running, but part of the same cultural shift.

The run club has become one of the most interesting pieces of the puzzle.

It is not a dispensary. It is not a smoke lounge. It is not a conference panel explaining why cannabis deserves a seat at the table. It is the street. People show up. They run. They sweat. They talk. They meet someone they would never have crossed paths with otherwise. Cannabis can be part of that environment, but it does not have to define it.

That is where normalization gets interesting. Today’s conversation is about cannabis users changing the game by building companies. Training for races. Creating art. Raising families. Competing. Recovering. Organizing communities, and consistently showing up.

The stereotype starts to fall apart when you put real people in motion. Thai Richards, a New York native and longtime advocate for plant and running culture, has been pushing that idea through the streets for years.

His work exists between athletics, cannabis, music, wellness and New York culture, proving that the plant does not have to occupy a separate universe from ambition.

Flash back to 2025, when we sat down with Thai Richards to talk running. We had one final question:

If you could run any race with any athlete or cultural figure, who would it be, and why? His answer was simple: “If I’m running anybody, I want to run a marathon or half marathon with Snoop Dogg or Wiz Khalifa just for the culture.”

Consider it a message sent into the universe. One year later, that vision became reality, with Thai, Wiz Khalifa and a crew of runners taking over the streets of New York last week for an unforgettable run.

For Thai, the moment was more than a run; it was a reminder of what can happen when culture, community and a little manifestation collide.

Thai Richards:

“Speaking that into reality lets me know I’m on time with where I thought the culture would go years ago. I felt. right where I belonged. I think the bigger picture is fulfilling my part by cementing myself into the foundation of this movement.

I’ve been so blessed because people respect my consistency and what I’ve done for years, and they make sure I’m where I need to be.”

Jai | Sports Cannabis:

You have been a lead advocate for the intersection of cannabis, running and culture for years. When you look around at these runs now, with athletes, artists, celebrities and everyday runners showing up together, what do you think has fundamentally changed about the way people see cannabis?

Thai Richards:

“I love everything happening within the culture. I’m grateful to see so many people pushing the message, and I think it’s changed the way open-minded people think and feel about it. The more science backs what we’re doing and the more we keep performing at high levels, the more we chip away at how we’re slowly rewriting history.

I just ask everyone to be mindful of how we showcase our consumption; we want more mindful consumption than anything. I’m not perfect, but I’m hoping I can help someone be better than I am. Addiction and mental health are very real; we don’t want to add to old stigmas.”

Jai | Sports Cannabis:

Last week’s run brought together some serious cultural heavyweights, but the run itself was still about movement and community. How intentional are you about creating a space where cannabis is part of the culture without becoming the entire identity of the experience?

Thai Richards:

“Flower is never the focus; it’s just a great social facilitator. I love flower because it changes the dynamic of how people communicate; it brings all people together, and that matters more than anything else. That’s my focus first, then fitness and wellness.”

Jai | Sports Cannabis:

If we are sitting here another year from now, what does the next evolution of this movement look like?

Thai Richards:

“Well, I’ll share two: the running boom is going to keep blowing up, and sporty, mindful cannabis brands will increase. While running and cannabis can contribute to a healthier lifestyle, they aren’t solutions in themselves. True change requires a commitment to all the necessary steps beyond just these activities.

It’s important for us to support one another and show understanding as we navigate our individual paths. Mental health is a serious matter, and these times can be challenging for many.”

That idea of individual paths is what makes this movement bigger than running or cannabis alone. There is no single way to participate, no universal definition of what a healthier lifestyle looks like, and no single voice that gets to speak for an increasingly diverse community. What is emerging instead is a culture shaped by people finding their own routes, then creating space for others to do the same.

For decades, normalization was something people talked about wanting. Now it is becoming something people can actually see. The athlete smoking cannabis is no longer the entire story.

The athlete running a 10K, building a business, talking about wellness and openly discussing cannabis is. That stereotype is much harder to dismiss.