Wiz Khalifa's Sentence Echoes that Celebrities are not Immune to the Law - A Sharp Reminder of the Bucky Raw case
Odarty Blackie
American rapper, Thomaz Cameron Jibril, popularly known as Wiz Khalifa, is currently serving a 9-month sentence in prison in Romania for smoking cannabis during a live stage performance at the Beach, Please! Festival in Costinești mid 2024.
He was sent to prison on December 18, 2025, by a Romanian Court after one and a half years when he was caught. Cannabis is commonly referred to as a weed/marijuana.
The Romanian State Prosecutors said police found the American rapper with more than 18 grams of cannabis and that he consumed a parcel on stage in front of the large crowd.
Authorities say the act is illegal and goes against the laws of the state. The Constanța Court of Appeal said the conduct demands a harsher penalty than the original fine of 3,600 lei (about $830) initially imposed on him by a lower court.
Wiz Khalifa's arrest and imprisonment have sent a strong message through the global entertainment industry and beyond that no one is above the law and exempted from penalties for illicit drug activities.
This has by far signaled to celebrities that the stage is not a canopy for narcotics. The Romanian court decision has sounded a global alarm that the fight against illicit substances has no limitations, and cannot be bent for celebrities or prominent figures in society.
The case of Wiz Khalifa can be compared to a recent drug discovery in Liberia. Recently, a Liberian rapper, Karwoudou Cole, goes by the stage name Bucky Raw, was detained at the Monrovia Central Prison after he was caught with 31. 6 grams of marijuana at his residence by the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA)
The Liberian laws strongly prohibit illicit substances. Bucky Raw was released on bail but still faces prosecution in court. The latest trend of artists or celebrities facing punitive actions for drug offenses underscored the resolve of nations to tackle the troubling pandemic.
However, the case with Wiz Khalifa seems highly unlikely for extradition to the United States. Romanian criminologist Vlad Zaha told BBC News that it is given the U.S. legal standards, the artist’s resources, and the complex politics surrounding cannabis.
The punitive actions against celebrities for drug-related offences are not new, but only highlight the uncompromising approach for the law.
In 2022, basketball star Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony over cannabis oil found in her luggage.
Decades earlier, in 1980, Paul McCartney was jailed in Japan for marijuana possession, forcing the cancellation of an entire tourWhat links.
