When Jared Shaw, an American basketball player in Indonesia, went down to the lobby of his apartment complex to pick up a package containing cannabis gummies he had ordered illegally, he thought his treatment for Crohn’s disease had finally arrived. It had – but so had 10 undercover police officers.
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“What they consider drugs, I consider medicine,” Shaw said.
(Photo: Tangerang Hawks)
A video circulating on social media shows Shaw shouting for help as police closed in to arrest him.
The 35-year-old from Dallas, Texas, is now facing either the death penalty or a lengthy prison sentence. A key player for Prawira Bandung, which won the Indonesian Basketball League championship in 2023, Shaw scored more than 1,000 points over three seasons in the country. Since his arrest in May, he has been jailed outside Jakarta and handed a lifetime suspension from the league.
“I use cannabis as medicine,” Shaw told the Guardian in a phone call from prison. “I have an inflammatory disease called Crohn’s, which is incurable. The only thing that stops my stomach pain is cannabis.”
“Some people tell me I’m going to spend the rest of my life in prison over a few gummies,” he added. In the first two months after his arrest, he said, he was “at the lowest point in my life” and “in a very dark mental space.”
The 6-foot-10 center and power forward said cannabis also helps ease his anxiety, depression, insomnia, and Crohn’s pain. “I don’t use it for fun or parties,” he said. “With my stomach problems, sometimes I can’t keep food down or even use the bathroom. This just takes the edge off the pain.”
Indonesia has some of the harshest drug laws in the world. In 2016, it executed three foreigners and one Indonesian by firing squad for drug crimes. More than 500 people—nearly 100 of them foreign nationals—are currently on death row there, most for drug-related offenses.
Police claim Shaw messaged teammates that he planned to share some of the gummies with them. Shaw insists his intent was personal use. “What they consider drugs, I consider medicine,” he said. “It’s just different cultures.”
Le basketteur américain Jarred Shaw arrêté en Indonésie après avoir reçu des bonbons au cannabis en provenance de Thaïlande pic.twitter.com/BDokJeQpTh
— Raamaa (@lagobrune) May 25, 2025
After his arrest, Shaw was quickly paraded at a press conference. Wearing an orange prison uniform, black mask, and handcuffs, he stood with his back to the audience as police commanders displayed the gummies—869 grams in total, with an estimated street value of $400. He argues the charges are unjust. “They accused me of having nearly a kilo,” he said. “But the majority of that weight comes from the candy itself, not the cannabis. In reality, I didn’t have anything close to that.”
Shaw is now raising money to cover mounting legal fees. Despite being jailed for five months, he has yet to face trial and is still waiting for his first court date.
“They’re portraying me as some big drug dealer,” he said. “Why would I bring gummies here to sell? They were only for my personal use.”
First published: 00:26, 10.04.25