Navi Mumbai, India – December 18, 2025 – Grammy-nominated rapper Wiz Khalifa is facing a potential nine-month prison sentence in Romania after appealing a conviction stemming from a marijuana-related incident at a music festival.
Rapper’s Appeal Follows Joint-Lighting Incident
The legal battle highlights the stark contrast between Romania’s strict drug laws and evolving global attitudes toward cannabis.
- Romania’s cannabis laws are among the strictest in Europe, prohibiting all forms of marijuana use.
- Wiz Khalifa’s legal trouble began after he lit a joint during his performance at the 2024 Beach,Please! Festival.
- The rapper publicly stated he meant no disrespect too Romania and intends to return, albeit without smoking on stage.
Wiz Khalifa, whose real name is Cameron Jibril Thomaz, could spend up to nine months incarcerated due to the incident at the 2024 Beach, Please! Festival, according to reports from TMZ on Thursday. His legal team is currently appealing the sentence.
Romania maintains a especially hardline stance on marijuana, classifying it as a “high-risk drug” and banning both recreational and medical use. This creates a challenging legal landscape for the artist, as noted by the outlet.
The incident occurred in July 2024,when Khalifa was detained and charged with illegal drug possession after smoking during his set at the Costinești-based festival,while performing to Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s “The next episode.” He was released shortly after the initial detention.
Responding on X (formerly Twitter) at the time, Khalifa expressed regret, stating, “I didn’t mean any disrespect to the country of Romania by lighting up on stage.” He added, “They were very respectful and let me go. I’ll be back soon. But without a big ass joint next time.”
Khalifa’s advocacy for cannabis reform is well-documented, appearing frequently in his music and public statements. While celebrating the release of Kush + Orange Juice 2,he discussed his desire to destigmatize marijuana use.
“It’s wild. Just being able to walk the streets in New York and smoke weed is so cool, because I remember we used to pull up, and there’s cops everywhere, always, so we would hop out [of] the van, and we would just hurry up and shut the door. But now they don’t care,” he told SiriusXM’s swaggy Sie.
He continued, “I speak a lot in other places that aren’t hip-hop communities about weed and just trying to legalize it and push it and change the laws in certain places, or at least make it a little less scary. That’s my job.”
As Khalifa continues to champion cannabis reform on a global scale, his case in Romania underscores the potential risks artists face when navigating differing legal frameworks while performing internationally. The outcome of his appeal will likely set a precedent for similar cases and high
