Jared Shaw Could Face the Death Penalty for Edibles in Indonesia

Jared Shaw, a former Oklahoma State University basketball player, has been arrested for cannabis possession in Indonesia. The country’s strict anti-drug laws mean he could be facing the death penalty. 

Shaw is from Dallas, Texas. He attended Dallas ISD’s Carter High School, where he was District 11- 4A’s Defensive Player of the Year in his senior season. Following graduation, he attended Utah State and then Oklahoma State University, where he was a starting center. 

In 2022, Shaw moved to Indonesia, playing for several teams in the Indonesian Basketball League. Last year, he signed a contract with the Tangerang Hawks.

On May 7, 2025, police raided the 34-year-old’s apartment just outside of Jakarta, seizing 132 pieces of cannabis candy that Shaw said he had planned to share with his teammates. The arrest came after a tip from Jakarta’s airport customs warning that Shaw had received a suspicious package from Thailand, where cannabis has been decriminalized since 2024.

A video of Shaw’s arrest circulating online shows the player resisting arrest and shouting “Help… Help!” as police attempt to handcuff him. If convicted under the country’s strong anti-drug laws, Shaw could face life in prison or the death penalty.  

The candies, which contained 30.6 ounces of illegal cannabidiol, qualify Shaw as a drug smuggler under the country’s laws. The UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime told CBS News that Indonesia is a major drug smuggling hub, despite having some of the strictest drug laws in the world, because international drug syndicates target its young population.

Currently, the outlet says there are 530 people, including 96 foreigners, on death row in Indonesia, largely for drug-related crimes. Indonesia’s last executions were carried out in 2016. 

“We are still running the investigation to uncover the international drug network behind this case and to stop its distribution,” Soekarno-Hatta Airport police chief Ronald Sipayung said in a statement to the press.

The Impact of Strong Drug Laws 

How countries should respond to drug use and commercialization is a perennial question. The current approach of many places, from the U.S. to Indonesia, is to crack down harshly on those who use, distribute, or promote drug use. The root belief is that strong punishments will deter consumption, thereby lowering crime rates and addiction statistics.

However, many studies have shown that there is no clear link between tougher drug laws and decreased drug use. 

U.S. researchers found that longer, more punitive sentences failed to reduce self-reported illegal drug use, overdose deaths, or drug-related arrests. These harsher penalties also did not lower recidivism rates. Instead, they increased state spending and placed a heavier tax burden on citizens.

Instead, groups like the Pew Research Center suggest “a combination of law enforcement to curtail trafficking and prevent the emergence of new markets; alternative sentencing to divert nonviolent drug offenders from costly imprisonment; treatment to reduce dependency and recidivism; and prevention efforts that can identify individuals at high risk for substance use disorders” as ways to address the issues created by illegal drugs.

The True Impacts of Cannabis Use

According to the UN, cannabis is, by far, the most widely cultivated, trafficked, and abused illicit drug, accounting for half of all drug seizures worldwide. About 147 million people, or 2.5% of the world’s population, consume cannabis each year. 

While those numbers may sound incredibly high, they pale in comparison to the number of people who consume alcohol each year (2.3 billion people according to the UN). 

Due to legalization issues, cannabis and its effects have been studied less frequently than alcohol; even so, most scientists agree that cannabis has fewer negative side effects. 

It is believed that only about 9% of all cannabis users will develop a marijuana addiction. That’s 13.23 million people based on the UN’s statistics. Meanwhile, the UN reports that 400 million people currently live with alcohol use disorders, and 209 million people are dependent on alcohol. 

In addition to lower dependence rates, cannabis is easier on your body, in that it’s more gentle on your liver and better for your brain, less likely to induce psychosis, and able to help relieve a variety of conditions from anxiety to seizures. It also has not been linked as closely to things like aggravated assaults (about 27% of aggravated assaults are committed by individuals who have consumed alcohol, according to one source) or other antisocial behaviors as alcohol has. 

READ: Why Hundreds of UK Patients are Buying their Medical Cannabis Illegally

Advocating for Alternatives 

Given these two factors— that stronger drug laws have seemingly no effect on drug use, and that cannabis is less harmful than alcohol, a legal substance in almost every country— Jared Shaw’s potential death sentence for edible possession seems wildly out of proportion.

Cannabis advocates everywhere should take issue with Shaw’s situation and should use this moment to not only campaign for a reduced punishment for him but for marijuana users around the world. 

What we need is a complete overhaul of the way cannabis is looked at and treated by the world’s governments. While yes, we agree that there should be age restrictions and other safety laws governing the sale and use of cannabis, current legislations do more harm to our communities than good.

Not only are Black people, like Shaw, 3.73 times more likely to be arrested for possession and use of marijuana than their white counterparts, which leads to increased racial disparity, but stricter laws have been proven to increase access to other, more harmful illegal drugs and escalate criminal activity through black markets. 

We believe that decriminalizing and legalizing cannabis can lead to increased consumer safety, better racial equity, and better protections for individuals looking for things like housing, employment, and medical care. Cannabis use and possession should not be grounds for the loss of a job— Shaw has been fired from the Tangerang Hawks and banned from the Indonesian Basketball League for life— or custody of a child. 

Even people who don’t use cannabis regularly would struggle to justify someone losing their life over possessing a few THC-infused candies meant for adults—especially after learning the realities of cannabis use and the harm caused by harsh cannabis laws.