‘I use cannabis as medicine’: the US basketball player facing execution in Indonesia over $400 of gummies | Basketball

Jarred Shaw, an American basketball player in Indonesia, thought that the drug came to alleviate Crohn when he stepped into the lobby of the apartment complex at the beginning of this year to collect a package containing illegally imported cannabis gums.

He had – but there were 10 secret police officers. A video on social media Shows ShawWearing a black T -shirt and shorts, the flock of the officers is screaming to help as he moves to capture him.

Dallas is 35 -year -old from Texas, faced with a long spell behind the death penalty or bars. Prawira Bandung, who won the Indonesian Basketball League (IBL) in 2023, was a key member of Bandung. POINTS More than 1,000 points in the country in three seasons. But now he is detained before the trial and banned from IBL for life.

“I use cannabis as a medicine,” he said to Guardian in his first comments from a prison just outside of May, Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. “Me too It is an inflammatory condition called untreated Crohn’s disease. There is no medicine except where my stomach stops pain. “

Outside the season, Shaw lives in Thailand, where marijuana is subject to more liberal laws. He said that in previous campaigns in Indonesia, he endured the pain of going without cannabis, but his health reasons encouraged him to import his supply from 132 gums this year. “I made a stupid mistake, or he says.

However, he says that this error should not guarantee the death penalty or a long spell in prison. “There are people who tell me that I am about to spend the rest of my life in prison through some renewables, or he says. “I’ve ever experienced something like this.” In the first two months after his arrest ” [my] Life ”and“ Really Dark Mental Place ”.

“I felt helpless and lonely, or he says. I didn’t want to wake up again. However, through prayer and belief and access to a prison gym, 6FT 11 -inch athletes begins to feel himself again even when sharing a cramped cell with a dozen man. “I have been 35 years old, but I still feel young,” he says. “I really want to continue my basketball career.”

Shaw, who plays as a center or power, says that he’s helping to alleviate the anxiety and depression of cannabis, insomnia and Crohn’s pain. Orum I don’t use it to have fun and make a party, or he says. “With my stomach situation, sometimes it is difficult for me to keep the food below or go to the toilet. It calms the pain a little.”

Indonesia takes a difficult line on drugs and in 2016, an Indonesian and three foreigners convicted of drug crimes carried out executions. More than 500 people, including about 100 foreigners in the country, are mostly during death for drug -related crimes.

Indonesian police, Shaw’un teammates will share some of the cannabis candies with them, saying that he sent text messages, he said. Orum I think of medicine, “he says,“ He thinks as a drug, Sa said Shaw. “This is just different cultures.”

After Shaw’s arrest, Ronald Sipayung, Chief of the Airport of Soekarno-Khatta, told reporters that Americans may face a prison or even death sentence if he was found guilty. Sipayung said, iz We are still conducting the investigation to reveal the international drug network behind this case and to stop its distribution, ”Sipayung said.

Complaint There was a passage ceremony quickly At a press conference, an orange prison problem appeared to be handcuffed wearing a t -shirt and black face mask. Police chiefs stood on the audience because they exhibited their cannabis gum, which weighs 869 grams in total and worth 400 dollars.

Given that most of the weight was created by them instead of cannabis content, he said that almost a weight of cannabis is unfair and “sick”. “I was accused of almost a kilo, or he says. “I had nothing near this.”

Complaint Do you gather donations To meet the rising legal wages. Despite being arrested five months ago, he has not yet been in court and is still waiting for the first appearance date. “They seem to be a big drug dealer, or he says. “Why should I bring it here to sell sugar? It was for personal use.”

Stephanie Shepard, the last court project (LPP), which is campaigns for the release of people imprisoned for marijuana crimes, said: “Jarred’s case is not isolated. Even in the US, he added tens of thousands of people. be imprisoned For entertainment purposes in almost half of the states, and for cannabis crimes, despite a medical green light in all of them except two. “These penalties are contrary to international human rights standards,” Shepard said.

The potential efficacy of cannabis on Crohn’s disease was examined, but in September, Nature Medicine Magazine published an article In a study that determines that cannabis can alleviate chronic back pain without serious side effects. Donald Trump talked about the benefits of cannabis -based drugs.

After finding cannabis stepped cartridges in the trunk of the authorities, there are parallels between the case of Shaw, a decorated American basketball player who was imprisoned in Russia for 10 months in 2022 and Brittney Giner’s case. Griner was finally released as part of a prisoner containing a Russian arms smuggler.

“Jarred has always been one of the most generous and selfless people you can meet,” Shaw said on Shaw’s donation collection page. “Jarred made a mistake. But I don’t believe this mistake should cost him the whole future.”

The US Embassy in Jakarta said he was aware of Shaw’s case but would not comment any more.

Donte West, a defender assistant at LPP, who handled Shaw’s case, said, “Cannabis cannot kill you, but may have it. We should pay attention to this case with the hope that a positive decision would determine a strong precedent.