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As the American basketball player, an American basketball player in Indonesia, descended to his apartment lobby in recent months to pick up a package with smuggled cannabis gummies, he believed the medicine for easing his Crohn’s disease had arrived.

It had – but so too had 10 undercover police officers. Footage circulating online depicts the athlete, dressed in a black T-shirt and shorts, shouting for help as multiple law enforcement agents move to apprehend him.

Facing Harsh Penalties

The Texan native, aged 35, is confronting the possibility of execution or extended imprisonment. Previously, he served as an integral player of Prawira Bandung, which clinched the national basketball league in 2023, and he accumulated over a thousand points across three years in the country. But now he remains in pre-trial detention and is banned for life from the IBL.

“Cannabis serves as my treatment,” he explained during a call from a prison near Jakarta, the capital. “I have a chronic inflammation called Crohn’s disease that’s untreatable. There’s no medicine apart from cannabis that relieves my abdominal pain.”

During the off-season, Shaw lives in Thailand, where cannabis is subject to more liberal laws. He says he had endured discomfort of abstaining from cannabis in earlier seasons in Indonesia but says that health reasons spurred him to bring in the intercepted supply of over a hundred edibles this year. “I made a stupid mistake,” he admits.

Challenges in Law and Life

However, this error should not warrant the death penalty or lengthy incarceration, he argues. “I’ve been informed I’m about to spend my entire future behind bars over some edibles,” he states. “I’ve never been through anything like this.” In the first two months following his detention, he was at “the lowest point in [my] life” and in a “deeply troubled state of mind.”

“I experienced isolation and despair,” he shares. “I didn’t want to wake up again.” Yet, with prayer and his faith, as well as access to a detention center gym, he is gradually recovering despite the 6ft 11in athlete shares a cramped cell with multiple inmates. “I just turned 35 but my energy remains high,” notes the ex-college player, with experience in Argentina, Japan, Turkey, Thailand and Tunisia. “I would love to continue playing professionally.”

Treatment Needs Versus Drug Laws

Shaw, who plays as a center or power forward, says cannabis alleviates his mental health struggles, in addition to sleeplessness and the pain from Crohn’s. “It’s not for recreation or social events,” he emphasizes. “Due to my digestive issues, sometimes it’s hard for me to keep food down or use the restroom. It just soothes the pain a little bit.”

The nation enforces strict policies on drugs and conducted executions in 2016, via shooting, of an Indonesian and three foreigners found guilty of drug offenses. More than 500 people – with nearly a hundred foreigners – face execution in the country, primarily due to narcotics violations.

Indonesian police stated that the athlete messaged his fellow players saying that he planned to distribute portions of the edibles with them. “Their definition of narcotics, I consider medicine,” he remarks. “Cultural perspectives vary.”

Seeking Support and Resolution

After Shaw’s arrest, police officials informed the media that Shaw might receive a life sentence or even the death penalty upon conviction. “Our ongoing investigation aims to uncover to uncover the international drugs network involved and to stop its distribution,” a representative stated.

Shaw was swiftly paraded during a media event, appearing with his hands cuffed dressed in detention attire and a black face mask. He stood with his back to the audience as police chiefs displayed the cannabis gummies, totaling 869 grams and are worth $400.

He said that to charge him with possession of almost a kilo of cannabis is unfair and “sick,” since the bulk is made up by the candy material instead of the cannabis content. “I’ve been charged for almost a kilo,” he says. “I didn’t have anything near that.”

Shaw is fundraising for his rising legal fees. His trial has not begun although detained months prior, and he is still waiting his initial court date. “It’s being portrayed as if I’m a major trafficker,” he says. “What reason would I have to import these items for sale? They were for my own needs.”

Broader Context and Support

A representative from a group campaigning for the release of people jailed over cannabis said: “Jarred’s case is not an isolated incident. Around the world, individuals face extreme sentences for non-violent cannabis offenses which are not dangerous to public safety.” Even in the US, she added, many people remain incarcerated for cannabis offences even with legalization in almost half of states and medical approval in all but two. “These punishments contradict global human rights norms,” she stated.

The potential efficacy of cannabis on Crohn’s disease is understudied but recent studies have indicated that cannabis can ease chronic lower back pain with minimal risks. Amid this, leaders have discussed the benefits of cannabis-based medicines.

Similarities exist with this case and the situation of Brittney Griner, the decorated American basketball player who was imprisoned in another country for 10 months in 2022 after authorities found cannabis products in her bags. Griner was eventually released through an exchange involving a Russian weapons trafficker.

“He is known as one of the most generous and caring individual one might encounter,” his friend remarked on Shaw’s fundraising page. “Jarred made a mistake. But I don’t believe that this should ruin his entire future.”

The US embassy in the capital stated they know about the situation but declined additional details.

An advocacy assistant involved in the case said: “Cannabis can’t kill you, but ownership might be. We must get significant focus to this situation in the hope that a positive resolution will set a powerful precedent. I am committed to making sure Jarred gets home to his mother.”

• The Indonesian National Police offered no reply regarding inquiries on this matter.