When Jarred Show, American basketball player in IndonesiaAt the beginning of this year, he went into the lobby in his residential complex to assemble a package with illegally imported chewing faiths of Cannabis, he thought that the medicine, in order to alleviate the disease of his crown.
It was – but it was 10 under the cover of the police. Video on social networks Shows the showIn a black T -shirt and shorts, shouting for help when the swarm of officers moves to detain him.
The 35-year-old from Dallas, Texas, is faced with the possibility of a death penalty or a long spell behind bars. He was a key member of the Bandung rule, which won the Indonesian basketball league (IBL) in 2023, and he scored More than 1000 points for three seasons in the country. But now he languishes in preliminary detention and is prohibited for life from IBL.
“I am using cannabis as a medicine,” he told Guardian by phone from prison near the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta, in his first comments from the press since his arrest. “I have An inflammatory state, called the disease of the crown, which is incurable. There is no medicine except Cannabis, which prevents me from hurting my stomach. ”
In the offseason, the show lives in Thailand, where cannabis obeys More liberal lawsHe says the field that he survived the pain in passing without cannabis in previous campaigns in Indonesia, but says that his health considerations prompted him to import the intercepted offer of 132 strokes this year. “I made a stupid mistake,” he says.
But this mistake should not justify the death penalty or a long spell in prison, he says. “There are people who tell me that I am going to spend the rest of my life in prison from some edible ones,” he says. “I have never passed through something like that.” In the first two months after the arrest, he was at the lowest point in [my] Life ”and in a“ really dark mental place ”.
“I felt helpless and lonely,” he says. “I didn't want to wake up again.” But thanks to prayer and his faith, as well as access to the prison gym, he begins to feel again, even when the athlete is 6 feet 11 inches shares a close camera with a dozen men. “I just turned 35 years old, but I still feel young,” says the former basketball player of Utah, who played in Argentina, Japan, Turkey, Thailand and Tunisia. “I would like to continue my basketball career.”
The show, which plays as a center or power, says that cannabis helps to alleviate his anxiety and depression, as well as insomnia and pain from the crown. “I do not use this to have fun and go to a party,” he says. “With my stomach, sometimes it’s hard for me to restrain food or go to the toilet. It just calms the pain. ”
Indonesia takes on a hard line for drugs and held executions in 2016, shootingIndonesian and three foreigners convicted of drug crimes. More than 500 people, including almost 100 foreigners, are on the death penalty in the country, mainly for crimes related to drugs.
The Indonesian police said that the show sent text messages to his teammates, saying that he would share some candies in Cannabis with them. “What they consider to be drugs, I think medicines,” says the show. “These are just different cultures.”
After the arrest of the show, Ronald Sipayung, the head of the Sokar-Khatt Airport police, told reporters that Americans may face a lifelong imprisonment or even the death penalty if he was found guilty. “We are still conducting an investigation to disclose the international drug network behind this business and stop its distribution,” Sipayung said.
Show It was quickly flaunted At a press conference, appearing with cuffs dressed in an orange T-shirt from prison and a black face mask. He stood with his back to the audience when the police exhibited chewing sweets that weigh 869 grams and cost $ 400.
He said that it is not indulgent to blame him for almost a kilogram of cannabis and “sick”, given that most of the weight was compiled by the Zheconki itself, and not the content of cannabis. “I was charged with almost a kilogram,” he says. “I had nothing nearby.”
Show This is a collection of funds To cover its growing legal fees. He had not yet appeared in court, despite the fact that he was arrested five months ago, and he is still waiting for the first performance. “They do it, it seems that I'm a big drug merchant,” he says. “Why should I bring sweets here to sell? It was for personal use. ”
After increasing the newsletter
Stefani Shepard, director of the protection of a lawyer in the project “Last Prisoner” (LPP), who conducts a campaign for the release of people imprisoned for crimes related to Cannabis, said: “Jarred's case is not an isolated incident. All over the world, people are serving extraordinary sentences for the inadequate crimes of Cannabis, which does not pose a threat to state security. ” Even in the USA, she added, tens of thousands Stay in prison For crimes on cannabis, despite the recreational legalization in almost half of the states and medical green light in all except two. “These punishments are contrary to international human rights standards,” Shepard said.
The potential effectiveness of cannabis in Crohn's disease has not been sufficiently studied, but in September Nature Medicine magazine Published an article In a study that found that cannabis could relieve chronic lower back pain without serious side effects. It came like Donald Trump He said Advantages of cannabis -based drugs.
There are parallels between the show and the Britney Griner case, decorated with an American basketball player, who was imprisoned in Russia for 10 months in 2022 after the authorities discovered cartridges of Cannabis in her baggage. Greener was ultimately released As part of the exchange of prisoners with the participation of a Russian weapon merchant.
“Jarred has always been one of the most generous and dedicated people you could meet,” said his friend Bree Petrous, his friend Brig Petrousi. “Jarred made a mistake. But I do not believe that this mistake should cost him all his future. ”
The US Embassy in Jakarta says that he knows the show, but will not comment on.
Donte West, an assistant for the protection of a lawyer in LPP, who is engaged in the show of the show, said: “Cannabis cannot kill you, but possessing it.
