# Elon Musk and narcotics **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** elon-musk\ **Created:** [February 7, 2025, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-and-narcotics/1014028 "2025-02-07T22:13:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2025, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-and-narcotics/1014028/1 "2025-02-07T22:13:50Z")
I’ve gotten the distinct impression that, to put it bluntly (no pun intended) Mr Musk may be stoned off his feet in public. And there are rumors to support that. What do we know of it? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2025, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-and-narcotics/1014028/2 "2025-02-07T22:39:05Z")
Is cannabis still called a narcotic? I always thought that was an odd, [Anslinger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_J._Anslinger)-Era term. Is it still general usage to refer to pot as a narcotic? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2025, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-and-narcotics/1014028/3 "2025-02-07T22:40:16Z")
And the rumors of Ketamine? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2025, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-and-narcotics/1014028/4 "2025-02-07T22:50:39Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > I’ve gotten the distinct impression that, to put it bluntly (no pun intended) Mr Musk may be stoned off his feet in public. Maybe being an asshole just comes naturally to Mr. Musk. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2025, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-and-narcotics/1014028/5 "2025-02-07T22:55:03Z")
The Wall Street Journal did a few article covering this, so I’d expect that their reporting is based on the personal accounts of multiple corroborating sources: [https://www.wsj.com/business/elon-musk-illegal-drugs-e826a9e1](https://www.wsj.com/business/elon-musk-illegal-drugs-e826a9e1) > **[Elon Musk will not receive highest-level government security clearance – reports](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/dec/16/elon-musk-government-security-clearance)** > > The SpaceX head has been advised to not seek the same over his drug use and contacts with foreign nationals I believe that he’s also been smoking marijuana on various podcasts. It’s not really gossip. It’s more than plausible that he’s going the way of [Howard Hughes](https://www.ocduk.org/ocd/history-of-ocd/howard-hughes/#:~:text=In%20spite%20of%20his%20immeasurable,grow%20to%20a%20grotesque%20length.). Or he figured that he capped out in the liberal markets and he’s putting on an act to sell to the red states. I’d lean towards drugs, but I suppose that we’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2025, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-and-narcotics/1014028/6 "2025-02-07T23:01:33Z")
And the rumors of Ketamine? [/quote] Oh, they’re not rumors. [Elon admits he uses ketamine](https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/18/tech/elon-musk-ketamine-use-don-lemon-interview/index.html): > “There are times when I have sort of a … negative chemical state in my brain, like depression I guess, or depression that’s not linked to any negative news, and ketamine is helpful for getting one out of the negative frame of mind,” Musk told Lemon. Musk added that he has a prescription for the drug from “an actual, real doctor” and uses “a small amount once every other week or something like that.” An actual, real doctor. Well, I’m impressed. 🙄 [quote=“Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor, post:3, topic:1014028, full:true”] > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I believe that he’s also been smoking marijuana on various podcasts. He claims he “doesn’t know how to smoke pot." (Same article.) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2025, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-and-narcotics/1014028/7 "2025-02-07T23:21:22Z")
I’ll suggest the word “narcotic” is way past its sell-by date. The OP using it is anchoring the thinking in the 1960s. Does Musk use controlled substances? Yes. Does he consume recreational drugs? Yes. Does he use narcotics? maybe not; many (most?) recreational drugs are not narcotic in nature. IMO past time to retire that tired term as a catchall meaning something close to “recreational illicit substances” ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2025, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-and-narcotics/1014028/8 "2025-02-07T23:28:27Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > He claims he “doesn’t know how to smoke pot." [![](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/7727/production/_103330503_musk3.jpg.webp) ](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/7727/production/_103330503_musk3.jpg.webp) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2025, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-and-narcotics/1014028/9 "2025-02-07T23:34:53Z")
Ketamine isn’t meant to be played with. Especially for Elons weekly brain ache. I assume he micro doses daily. Or he will be soon. The stuff is addictive. Michael Jackson thought a surgery drug made a dandy sleep aid. He got unalive for that mistake. ---
**Author:** ![motu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/motu/32/259_2.png) [@motu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motu)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2025, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-and-narcotics/1014028/10 "2025-02-07T23:55:40Z")
It might just be that the hair plugs have pushed through his skull and into his brain. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-and-narcotics/1014028/11 "2025-02-08T00:17:21Z")
Hey, now, learning to smoke weed is HARD, what with the inhaling AND the exhaling. It took Don, Jr. YEARS to figure it out. Doesn’t Musk’s facial expression in that photo remind you of Don, Sr.? Whatever he’s on, Musk is a SpaceX cadet. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-and-narcotics/1014028/12 "2025-02-08T09:22:25Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > IMO past time to retire that tired term as a catchall meaning something close to “recreational illicit substances” Oh, absolutely. It’s a pretty useless term in this day and age. And well, I’ve done lots of drugs, legal and otherwise. I don’t do them any more, or less than I used to. Still, my co-workers will call me and rope me into their problems at all times of the day or night. I still usually manage to be useful, and if I don’t think I will be I tell them that when they call me. Sometimes they insist I at least try, and more often than not I am still helpful even then, despite my doubts. So, they’re probably a better judge of my drug-addled skills then I am in my drug-addled state. Or, they’re just desperate for any source of help. In short: Elon’s problem probably isn’t illicit drugs. Elon’s problem is probably simply being Elon. Drugs don’t normally turn you into or out of being a racist asshole in the throes of a Dunning-Kruger fit. They usually just change how you feel about being you. If you are a racist asshole in the throes of a Dunning-Kruger fit, the effects are the same. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-and-narcotics/1014028/13 "2025-02-08T12:52:52Z")
Yeah. IMO Some of the erratic behavior and irresponsible behavior is caused, or more likely exacerbated, by the drugs. The overweening desires to first rule ze vorld! and then kill all the non-white people? That part is innate. The upside to the drug use is it raises the odds he’ll poison himself into a permanent stupor or early death. Either of which will be good news for humanity. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-and-narcotics/1014028/14 "2025-02-08T14:55:57Z")
When you are wealthy, you can get pretty much any drug you want and you can get it uncut and in pure form. I have no idea what all drugs Elon uses, but I know ketamine is one of them. I wouldn’t be surprised if he uses hallucinogens. Those are used (as microdoses) quite a bit in silicon valley to improve cognition. But Elon strikes me as a deeply miserable person and I’d assume he self medicates. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-and-narcotics/1014028/15 "2025-02-09T15:19:34Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I have no idea what all drugs Elon uses, but I know ketamine is one of them. I wouldn’t be surprised if he uses hallucinogens. He purportedly uses LSD, which he was supposedly on when he debuted Tesla stock at $420 (a marijuana reference) This is all part of a sordid tale told by a rapper, Azalia Banks. > [@](#): > > According to Banks, Grimes [a musician who was Elon Musk’s girlfriend and is the mother to some of his kids] invited her to fly out to LA to stay at Musk’s place to put the finishing touches on their collaboration, which Banks duly did… > > “I waited around all weekend while grimes coddled her boyfriend for being too stupid to know not to go on twitter on acid,” Banks wrote [on Instagram], concluding that “it was probably some weird threesome sex shit to begin with.”… > > That dark reference to Musk tweeting while on acid seems to refer to a Twitter thread Musk wrote at the beginning of August [announcing his intention to take Tesla private “at $420.”](http://nymag.com/selectall/2018/08/elon-musk-considers-taking-tesla-private.html) “Funding secured,” he tweeted. It’s an open question whether Musk was being serious or whether he was making kind of a labored weed joke, [but as _Select All_ pointed out](http://nymag.com/selectall/2018/08/elon-musk-considers-taking-tesla-private.html), if he was serious, his tweet could be seen as a manipulation of the marketplace. That would make it illegal. Musk wrote a blog post [clarifying that no final decision had been made about Tesla’s future](https://www.tesla.com/blog/taking-tesla-private), but [the Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly investigating](https://www.vox.com/2018/8/15/17692582/elon-musk-tesla-stock-sec-investigation-nasdaq). > > According to Banks, the investment issue was a major topic of concern at the Musk residence while she was there. “I saw him in the kitchen tucking his tail in between his legs scrounging for investors to cover his ass after that tweet,” [she said in an interview with Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/azealia-banks-claims-to-be-at-elon-musks-house-as-he-sought-investors-2018-8), during which she also clarified that she was at Musk’s home from early on Friday through Sunday night. “He was stressed and red in the face.” She added, “He’s not cute at all in person.” > **[The billionaire house hostage saga of Azealia Banks, Elon Musk, and Grimes,...](https://www.vox.com/2018/8/16/17692700/azealia-banks-elon-musk-grimes-explained)** > > Here’s the background you need to understand the story. And there are other allegations if you google for them. [https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/elon-musk-used-illegal-drugs-sparked-concerns-among-tesla-spacex-board-members-report-4815677/amp/1](https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/elon-musk-used-illegal-drugs-sparked-concerns-among-tesla-spacex-board-members-report-4815677/amp/1) ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-and-narcotics/1014028/16 "2025-02-09T23:49:31Z")
Can you imagine spending a great deal of your time hanging out with donald fucking trump and _not_ being on drugs? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-and-narcotics/1014028/17 "2025-02-10T00:42:20Z")
Excellent point! And for somebody who’s as convinced he’s an ubermensch as musk is, to regularly have to deal with a blathering fool like trump who’s even more convinced he’s the greatest human ever has got to be especially galling. Especially since trump has the one thing musk most wants next: actual titular control of the US government.