Mr Musk claims to have a prescription for the narcotic-like drug ketamine.
Billionaire Elon Musk’s use of psychedelic drugs like ketamine to treat depression made news last year. However, in recent years, several board members at Tesla and SpaceX have expressed concerns about his use of medications, which could have serious consequences for his health and the vast business empire he oversees, according to a report published in the journal Nature. The Wall Street Journal.
People who have observed and others with knowledge of the world’s richest person’s drug use claim he has used LSD, cocaine, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms, often at private parties around the world where guests sign non-disclosure agreements or give up their phones to join. Mr Musk claims to have a prescription for the drug-like drug ketamine, and has previously used marijuana in public.
For example, at a concert in Los Angeles in 2018, he took several pills of acid. He used magic mushrooms at a party in Mexico the following year. He and his brother Kimbal Musk engaged in recreational ketamine use in 2021 while attending an Art Basel-themed house party in Miami. Along with Steve Jurvetson, a former board member of Tesla and current SpaceX, he was also involved in illegal drug use.
According to the report, former Tesla executive Linda Johnson Rice became so angry about the billionaire’s erratic behavior and drug use that she decided not to run for re-election to the electric car manufacturer’s board of directors in 2019. However, Alex Spiro, Musk’s lawyer, said, He is “subject to regular and random drug tests at SpaceX and has never failed a test.”
In another incident, some SpaceX executives noticed a change at a company event in 2017. Hundreds of employees gathered around the mission control center at the rocket company’s California headquarters, waiting for the president, who was nearly an hour late. When Musk stood on stage, he was almost unintelligible, and executives at the event said he stuttered and rambled for about fifteen minutes, calling the prototype of SpaceX’s Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR, a “Big F****.” **Rocket”. However, Mr Spiro described the incident as “false as confirmed by countless persons who were present”.
In 2018, Musk got into trouble with NASA after he was seen consuming marijuana on Joe Rogan’s show. This raised concerns about the impact of Mr Musk’s behavior on the company and led to random drug testing of SpaceX employees.
It should be noted that any form of illegal drug use would violate corporate regulations at both SpaceX and Tesla, in addition to violating federal contracts. It would also cast doubt on Musk’s leadership role at publicly listed Tesla, where the board of directors has been tasked with monitoring management on behalf of shareholders. Several Tesla board members expressed concerns to each other about the CEO’s alleged drug use, but did not provide any comments that could be included in the meeting minutes or on the board’s official agenda. Some managers, such as Robin Denholm, the current Chairman of the Tesla Board of Directors, have reached out to Kimbal Musk, a member of the Board of Directors of both Tesla and SpaceX until early 2022, to ask for help regarding Musk’s behavior, without resorting to using the word “drugs.” According to the report.
Executives have yet to determine the cause of Musk’s unusual behavior, including a 2018 tweet about plans to take Tesla private or when he choked up while describing how difficult his year had been. Some attribute this to drug use, while others say it is chronic lack of sleep, something the billionaire has been vocal about.
Musk has said on several occasions that he regularly sleeps in the offices of Tesla and X, emailing company executives in the middle of the night. He added that he works almost non-stop and “vacation” is a “strong word” for him.
Author Walter Isaacson described Mr Musk’s “diabolical situation” in a recently published official biography of the billionaire. He said that Elon Musk often loses his temper and lashes out at executives and employees. “I really don’t like taking illicit drugs,” Musk is quoted as saying in the book.