(Observer News)
The Wall Street Journal quoted witnesses and people familiar with the matter on January 6 as saying that Musk, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who owns six companies including Tesla and SpaceX, is believed to have illegally abused drugs, including LSD hallucinogens, cocaine, ecstasy, "psychedelic mushrooms" and ketamine (commonly known as "K powder"), which has caused concern among some executives and board members. Musk's lawyer denied this, and Musk himself has not yet responded.
According to reports, Musk's history of inappropriate drug use can be traced back to 2018, when he took multiple tablets of psychedelic drugs at a party in Los Angeles. The following year, he took "psychedelic mushrooms" at an event in Mexico. In addition, Musk has taken illegal drugs with Steve Jurvetson, a former board member of the board of directors of SpaceX and a former SpaceX.
As a corporate executive and founder, Musk is mysterious and protected by bodyguards, and his private parties are often very private, with attendees signing non-disclosure agreements or handing over their phones to enter. According to people close to Musk, Musk often attends Nevada's annual "Burning Man" party, where people often smoke drugs to vent their emotions. And at his own private events, drug use is also common.
Musk Infographic Image source: Visual China
The Wall Street Journal revealed in June last year that Musk used trace amounts of ketamine to treat depression and took full doses of ketamine at parties as a pastime. Musk and his brother Kimbal Musk often attend the same parties and events, including Art Basel's party in Miami in late 2021, when they both smoked ketamine, according to people with knowledge of his drug use.
According to the report, his younger brother Kimball had spoken to friends about the benefits of psychedelics and supported the use of psychedelics for mental health treatment. After the Wall Street Journal reported in June last year, Musk himself responded at the time that psychedelic ketamine was a better treatment than the more widely used antidepressant drugs that would "zombieize", and he had used such prescription drugs.
Musk did not respond to the Wall Street Journal's request for comment, and so far, no response has been seen from Musk himself to the report. Musk's lawyer, Alex Spiro, who represents Tesla, said that Musk "undergoes regular drug sampling at SpaceX and has never failed a test." He called the Wall Street Journal "other false descriptions" in the report, but did not elaborate.
Executives privately voiced concerns
Some Tesla board members have been talking about their concerns about Musk's alleged drug use for years, but have never made any formal remarks that would be retained in the minutes, people familiar with the discussions on Tesla's board. At Tesla, although directors don't specifically ask questions about drug abuse, James Murdoch, the current chairman of the board, and others sometimes gather around fellow director Kimball during board breaks or after meetings, asking Musk how he is doing or whether he gets enough sleep.
Musk is known for his capricious behavior, and those around him have long been Xi to it, but some longtime SpaceX executives who have worked with Musk reportedly felt something was wrong with him at a company event in late 2017. At the time, Musk was nearly an hour late for a company all-hands meeting attended by hundreds of people, slurred his speech when he took the stage, and repeatedly referred to the Big Falcon Rocket as a "Big F-ing Rocket" in his 15-minute speech, and SpaceX President Shortville eventually had to step in and take over the meeting.
It's uncertain whether Musk was under the influence of drugs at the time, but after the meeting, SpaceX executives privately talked about their concerns about Musk's illegal use of drugs. The Wall Street Journal notes that part of the question that directors have been grappling with for years is whether Musk's unusual behavior is to blame for drug use, or other causes such as lack of sleep. Mr. Musk, who currently manages six companies, has said he often sleeps in his office, emails his staff in the middle of the night and chairs work meetings at midnight.
In a biography of the same name published last September with Musk's authorization, author Walter Isaacson mentions that Musk will go into a "devil's mode" of intense anger, often lashing out at employees and executives. Isaacson quotes Musk as saying in the book, "I really don't like the illegal use of drugs."
Some people, including Musk himself, attribute his erratic behavior to his psychological problems. In 2017, a Twitter user asked Musk if he had bipolar disorder, to which Musk replied in the affirmative, but at the same time said that he had not yet been diagnosed. When Musk hosted the variety show "Saturday Night Live" in 2021, he said he had Asperger's syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder.
or jeopardize tens of billions of dollars in contracts
According to the report, people close to Musk revealed that they are concerned that Musk's long-term improper use of drugs will not only have a significant impact on his health, but also cause damage to the six companies and billions of assets he regulates. According to the Wall Street Journal, the illicit use of drugs is likely to violate U.S. federal policy, which in turn jeopardizes SpaceX's more than $14 billion contract with the U.S. government for civilian and military space missions.
Contracts with the U.S. government require businesses to comply with the Drug-Free Workplace Act and to foster a drug-free culture through programs and policies, regardless of whether state law allows drug use. According to Tesla's Code of Conduct, the business should be a drug-free workplace that prohibits all employees, including executives, from using drugs, even outside the office.
As the CEO and founder of SpaceX, Musk has security clearance to access classified information. According to a Wall Street Journal analysis, companies may lose the government's safety clearance because employees "misuse drugs," that is, use illegal drugs or prescription drugs "in a way that deviates from approved medical direction."
In August 2018, Musk tweeted that he planned to take Tesla private at $420 per share (the "420" figure has a special meaning in marijuana culture and is used to refer to marijuana smoking) and that he had already "secured funds", a tweet that caused an uproar among investors. Soon after, during Musk's guest on a live show, he openly smoked the marijuana cigarette handed by the host, admitting that he "should have smoked once" before.
Despite taking only one deep breath, Musk's security clearance came under scrutiny because Musk's SpaceX has a number of valuable contracts with the U.S. Air Force. According to a letter sent to SpaceX by NASA and federal contract records, SpaceX was required to provide written assurances of compliance with the Drug-Free Workplace Act and conducted year-long drug sampling, and NASA provided $5 million in government funding to train SpaceX employees.
The Forbes biweekly website believed at the time that the review was unlikely to change SpaceX's relationship with the Air Force, but it could change Musk's role in the company, "or affect Musk's status as CEO and the extent to which he can be involved in certain projects."
The move has also caused controversy on the Internet, with some voices mentioning that marijuana has been legalized in California and other places, but some people believe that Musk represented Tesla in the interview and violated Tesla's employee code of conduct and ethics regulations. Coupled with the fact that the company was in the midst of privatization and executive exodus, Tesla's stock price fell by 10% at one point, approaching the lowest level in 2018.
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