Wiz Khalifa given nine-month prison sentence in Romania over cannabis use on festival stage

American rapper Wiz Khalifa has been sentenced to nine months in prison by the Constanța Court of Appeal for possession of drugs for personal use, after smoking a cannabis cigarette on stage at the Beach, Please! festival in Costinești in 2024. The ruling, delivered on Thursday, December 18, is final, News.ro reported.

In April 2025, the Constanța Tribunal, acting as a court of first instance, had imposed a significantly lighter penalty, fining Wiz Khalifa RON 3,600 (some EUR 700). The Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) appealed that decision, and the Court of Appeal ruled in favor of prosecutors, replacing the fine with a prison sentence.

Wiz Khalifa was formally sent to trial in October 2024. Prosecutors stated that on July 13, 2024, while attending the music festival in Costinești, he unlawfully possessed 18.53 grams of cannabis as well as a cigarette containing cannabis, intended for personal use.

Following the final ruling, Constanța County Police announced that the rapper has been placed under national search and that procedures are underway to initiate an international arrest warrant, according to News.ro. Romanian authorities are expected to coordinate with their counterparts in the United States through the International Police Cooperation Center.

In 2014, Wiz Khalifa was arrested for marijuana possession at an airport in Texas, where he was scheduled to perform. Security agents found half a gram of cannabis on him. Khalifa pleaded guilty and got away with a USD 500 fine.

(Photo source: Yakub88/Dreamstime.com)