Jarred Shaw, a professional basketball player overseas, is facing a stiff punishment in Indonesia after being arrested for having $400 worth of edibles earlier this year.

According to The Guardian, the 35-year-old Dallas native could face life in prison—or even the death penalty following the authorities' procuring a package of cannabis-infused gummies that were mailed to his apartment.

“I use cannabis as a medicine,” he told the Guardian over the phone from a prison just outside Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, in his first comments to the press since his May arrest. “I have an inflammatory condition called Crohn’s disease that’s incurable. There’s no medicine apart from cannabis that stops my stomach from aching.”

Shaw stated that he used the gummers to treat his “pain, insomnia, and anxiety, not for recreation.”

“What they consider drugs, I consider medicine. It’s just different cultures,” he said.

Shaw also said that during the offseason, he lives in Thailand, which is more tolerant of cannabis usage due to more liberal laws. Because of the intense pain, he decided to order 132 gummies this year.

 “I made a stupid mistake,” Shaw admitted.

But Shaw doesn’t believe that his crime should have him facing the death penalty. 

“There are people telling me I’m about to spend the rest of my life in prison over some edibles,” he said. “I’ve never been through anything like this.”

At a police press conference following his arrest, Shaw was brought before the media in handcuffs and a prison uniform, with the gummies as evidence.

After the first two months after his arrest, he said he was at “the lowest point in [my] life” and in a “really dark mental place”.

“I felt helpless and alone,” he says. “I didn’t want to wake up again.” 

Eventually, he began to feel better through prayer and spending time in the prison gym. At 6ft 11, Shaw shares a small cell with 12 other inmates. 

“I just turned 35, but I still feel young,” Shaw said.. “I would love to continue my basketball career.”

To cover his legal bills, a GoFundMe was launched by Shaw’s friend, Bree Petruzio.

“This fundraiser is about giving back to someone who has given so much to others,” Petruzio wrote on the campaign page.

In his career, Shaw has played in Argentina, Thailand, Venezuela, Tunisia, and other countries. Because of his charges, he faces a lifetime ban from the Indonesian Basketball League.

Stephanie Shepard, director of advocacy at Last Prisoner Project (LPP), an organization that advocates for people imprisoned for cannabis-related offences. She stated just how common Shaw's case is overseas.

“Jarred’s case is not an isolated incident. Around the world, people are serving extreme sentences for non-violent cannabis offenses that pose no threat to public safety. These punishments run counter to international human rights standards,” Shepard said.

“In the US today,  tens of thousands remain incarcerated for cannabis offences “despite recreational legalization in almost half of states and a medical greenlight in all but two.”