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Wiz Khalifa performs on stage at Loud Park on November 22, 2025 in Navi Mumbai, India
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Key Takeaways:
- Romania’s cannabis laws are among the strictest in Europe, banning all forms of marijuana use.
- Wiz Khalifa’s nine-month sentence stems from lighting a joint during his Beach, Please! Festival performance.
- The rapper responded publicly in 2024, saying he meant no disrespect and plans to return without lighting up.
Wiz Khalifa may be looking at as much as nine months in a Romanian prison over the incident where he lit a joint at 2024’s Beach, Please! Festival. On Thursday (Dec. 18), TMZ reported that the “Black and Yellow” rapper’s legal team is “currently in the process of appealing the sentence.”
As the outlet noted, Khalifa could be in for a difficult fight given how strict the country’s laws are. Marijuana is banned for both recreational and medical use, and it’s classified as a “high-risk drug.”
The Grammy-nominated artist, born Cameron Jibril Thomaz, was notably detained and charged with illegal drug possession in July 2024 after smoking to Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s “The Next Episode” at the Costinești-based festival. He was let go not long after.
“I didn’t mean any disrespect to the country of Romania by lighting up on stage,” Khalifa wrote on X around that time. “They were very respectful and let me go. I’ll be back soon. But without a big ass joint next time.”
Whether in the countless songs where he mentions smoking or on his Twitch streams, Khalifa’s love for marijuana is no secret. While celebrating Kush + Orange Juice 2’s release, the rapper spoke about wanting to make weed “a little less scary.”
“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 added, “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 advocate for cannabis reform globally, his case in Romania highlights the risks artists face when local laws clash with personal freedoms. Whether his appeal succeeds or not, the moment underscores how different the rules can be when performing abroad.
