Dec. 18 (UPI) — A Romanian court on Thursday sentenced American rapper Wiz Khalifa to nine months in prison for using marijuana during a music festival last year.
Citing local news outlets Agerpres and CanCan, USA Today reported the Constanța Court of Appeal issued the final ruling for “committing the crime of possession of high-risk drugs, without right, for own consumption.
The ruling by the appellate court came after the country’s prosecutor’s office — DIICOT Constanța Territorial Service — appealed an earlier sentence that saw Khalifa fined about $829.
The court said it strengthened the punishment because Khalifa sent “a message of normalization of illegal conduct” and encouraged “drug use among young people.”
The court called his actions “ostentatious.”
Sources close to the situation told TMZ that the rapper’s lawyers are appealing the sentence.
Khalifa was sentenced in absentia, and it’s unclear if officials in Romania will seek to have Khalifa extradited to serve his sentence.
Romanian criminal expert Vlad Zaha told the BBC that there’s little chance the United States would extradite Khalifa. He described the sentence as “unusually harsh.”
“Given the defendant’s wealth and connections, Romania’s lack of real negotiating power on extradition, and the legal and political status of cannabis in the U.S., it is highly unlikely that Wiz Khalifa will be sent to serve a prison sentence in Constanța, even though a formal judicial request will be submitted to the United States,” Zaha said.
Khalifa was briefly detained in July 2024 after he smoked marijuana during his set at the Beach Please! Festival.
The musician addressed his arrest in a post on X after his release from custody.
“Last night’s show was amazing. I didn’t mean any disrespect to the country of Romania by lighting up onstage,” he wrote. “They were very respectful and let me go. I’ll be back soon. But without a big … joint next time.”
