Billionaire Elon Musk has dabbled in using psychedelic drugs like ketamine to treat depression and said it helped him run the company.
According to a report on CNN, the Tesla CEO’s comment was made in an interview with journalist Don Lemon. “There are times when I have a sort of… negative chemical state in my brain, like depression I guess, or depression that isn’t associated with any negative messages, and ketamine is useful for getting me out of that negative frame of mind.” ” he said to Lemon.
Musk went on to say that he takes the drug in “a small amount once every two weeks or so” and that he has a prescription for it from a “real, real doctor.” “If you use too much ketamine, you can’t really get the job done, and I have a lot of work. I usually put in 16-hour days … so I don’t really have a situation where I can’t be mentally acute for an extended period of time,” he said.
The Tesla CEO said he doesn’t drink and “doesn’t know how to smoke pot,” but when he said he was “almost always” sober when he posted late at night, he didn’t specify whether he was referring to ketamine or something else. medicine.
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The billionaire also said he doesn’t think drug use will affect his government contracts or relationships with investors.
“From a Wall Street perspective, execution is important. Are you building value for investors? Tesla is worth roughly the same as the rest of the auto industry combined … so from an investor perspective, if there’s something to take, I should keep taking it,” he said, adding that he believes his depression is genetic.
According to a Wall Street Journal report published in January, watchers and others familiar with the world’s second-richest man’s drug use say he took LSD, cocaine, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms, often at private parties around the world. where guests sign non-disclosure agreements or hand over their phones to connect.
Linda Johnson Rice, a former Tesla executive, became so enraged by the billionaire’s erratic behavior and drug use that she decided not to run for re-election to the electric vehicle maker’s board in 2019, according to a report. However, Mr Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, said he is “regularly and randomly drug tested at SpaceX and has never failed a test”.
