Rapper Wiz Khalifa has been sentenced to nine months in prison by a Romanian court for drug possession charges.
The 38-year-old performer, whose real name is Cameron Jibril Thomaz, was stopped by Romanian police last July after allegedly smoking weed during his performance of his hit Young, Wild & Free at the Beach, Please! Festival in Costinesti.
He was then said to be in possession of more than 18 grams of cannabis, prosecutors claim, some of which he smoked onstage.
Today, Romania’s Constanța Court of Appeal upheld an appeal filed by prosecutor’s office DIICOT Constanța Territorial Service, calling for the rapper to be given nine months of jail time.
His conviction is cited as ‘possession of dangerous drugs, without right, for personal consumption’.
This follows a previous citation that fined him 3,000 lei, equivalent to roughly $700 (£523).
While the sentencing is said to be final under Romanian law, Khalifa’s legal team intends to appeal the sentencing, as per TMZ.
In Romania, drug laws are stricter in comparison with those of other European countries. Cannabis possession for both recreational and medical use is illegal and punishable by prison sentences between three months and two years, as well as fines.
After his initial arrest, the Black and Yellow hitmaker took to X with a statement.
‘Last nights show was amazing. I didn’t mean any disrespect to the country of Romania by lighting up on stage. They were very respectful and let me go. I’ll be back soon. But without a big a*s joint next time [sic],’ he wrote.
The singer-songwriter has made no secret of his drug use publicly, having rocked up to flashy events while smoking and claiming just months ago that he smokes ’30 joints a day’.
Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show earlier this year, he said he sleeps for around six hours per night, leaving 18 hours in the rest of his day.
‘That’s like, 1 and 3/4 joints an hour,’ Kimmel calculated, to which Khalifa laughed: ‘That’s not bad at all!’
In 2017, he told Vice that smoking ‘frees [his] mind’ and makes his creative ideas ‘more vivid’.
‘I’m able to just relax and be free,’ he said. ‘I like to smoke before, during, and after I’m making music.’
He also mentioned his friendship with fellow rapper Snoop Dogg, who has even marketed his own line of marijuana products and hired a personal ‘blunt roller’, whom he pays $50,000 (£37.6k) annually to roll 150 joints a day.
‘My main ritual is to roll out six at a time. I’ve been doing that ever since I met Snoop,’ said Khalifa, explaining that he rolls joints ‘as soon as [he] wakes up.
Khalifa is currently in the United States. He spent over two hours live-streaming on Twitch yesterday, during which time he also smoked weed.
Earlier this week, he made a cameo at rapper Gunna’s concert in Los Angeles.
It is unclear whether Romania will try to force his extradition back to the country.
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