American basketball star Jarred Shaw is currently facing a legal and physical battle in Indonesia. Once a celebrated center who led Prawira Bandung to the 2023 Indonesian Basketball League (IBL) title, Shaw’s life took a tragic turn in May 2025 when he was arrested for ordering 132 cannabis gummies to manage his chronic Crohn’s disease.
Under Indonesia’s notoriously strict drug laws, Shaw initially faced the prospect of execution by firing squad. That's because the 132 gummies weighed a combined 869 grams, authorities initially treated the case as trafficking of nearly a kilogram of narcotics.
However, in a significant legal reprieve in December 2025, a judge cleared him of trafficking charges, convicting him instead on the lesser charge of drug possession. While this spared him the death penalty, he was sentenced to 26 months in prison and a $50,000 fine.
Despite escaping capital punishment, Shaw’s prison ordeal is far from over. Suffering from Crohn’s disease, an incurable inflammatory bowel condition, Shaw’s health has deteriorated rapidly in the Indonesian penal system.
In recent months, his weight has plummeted from 245 lbs to 210 lbs. The prison diet, dominated by fried foods, exacerbates his condition, leading to sharp abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting.
Medical assessments in late 2025 confirmed he is suffering from anemia and an E. coli infection.
Despite doctors recommending urgent diagnostic tests, including a colonoscopy, Shaw remains waiting for hospital admission.
The irony of his situation is profound. He is imprisoned for seeking the very medicine (cannabis) that provided him relief from the condition now ravaging his body in a cell he shares with four other inmates.
His legal team is currently petitioning for a compassionate release, while Shaw remains isolated, writing a book to keep his mind occupied during this harrowing chapter.
