American rapper Wiz Khalifa has been sentenced to nine months in prison by a Romanian court for smoking cannabis on stage during a music festival last year. The Constanța Court of Appeal overturned a previous penalty that imposed a fine of 3,600 Romanian lei, substituting it with a custodial sentence. The ruling was made in the artist’s absence, as he was not in Romania at the time of the decision.

Wiz Khalifa, whose legal name is Thomaz Cameron Jibril, acknowledged consuming a cannabis joint during his performance at the Beach, Please! festival in Costinești in July 2024. Following the show, he was briefly detained and questioned by authorities before prosecutors formally charged him with possession of “risk drugs” for personal use.

Investigators stated that Jibril was found in possession of over 18 grams of cannabis and had consumed an additional quantity while performing. The court’s written judgment indicated that the initial fine did not adequately reflect the gravity of the offense. Judges characterized the act as “ostentatious” and a “message of normalisation of illegal conduct.”

This behavior was deemed particularly concerning given the festival’s popularity among young attendees. The court emphasized that the rapper’s actions, consuming cannabis publicly, could be interpreted as encouraging drug use among an audience “predominantly made up of very young people.”

Despite the legal proceedings in Romania, Wiz Khalifa has continued his international touring schedule. He recently appeared on stage in California alongside fellow rapper Gunna and has been actively sharing content from his home on platforms like Twitch and social media.

Shortly after the festival incident, Jibril posted on X, formerly Twitter, stating his intention was not to offend Romania and acknowledging the respectful treatment by authorities. He expressed a desire to return, humorously noting, “but without a big ass joint next time.”

Romanian criminologist Vlad Zaha commented on the ruling, suggesting the likelihood of the sentence being enforced is very low. He described the decision as “unusually harsh” and predicted that the United States would be unlikely to extradite the artist, citing his celebrity status, financial resources, and the divergent legal approaches to cannabis in the US.

Wiz Khalifa, a Grammy-nominated artist recognized for hits such as “Black and Yellow” and “See You Again,” has long integrated cannabis into his public persona. He launched his own marijuana brand in 2016. While cannabis is legal for recreational or medical purposes in many U.S. states, it remains illegal under Romanian law and U.S. federal law.

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Keywords: Wiz Khalifa, Romanian jail term, cannabis use, on-stage drug use, Beach Please festival, drug possession, Thomaz Cameron Jibril, Constanța Court of Appeal