The Suits Are Worried Elon Musk Does Too Many Drugs

Executives who work with Elon Musk are worried about his alleged drug use, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. 

The article said leaders at SpaceX and Tesla are concerned that some of Musk’s erratic behaviour—including his tweeting sprees, “incomprehensible” speeches, and a media interview in which he “choked up”––is caused by his alleged use of drugs, including LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, mushrooms, and ketamine. The story said illegal drug use could put government contracts with SpaceX at risk. 

Musk, the world’s richest man, responded to the story Monday, in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that referenced a 2018 interview with Joe Rogan in which he took a hit of a spliff—weed mixed with tobacco. That incident reportedly prompted the Pentagon to review Musk's security clearance. 

“After that one puff with Rogan, I agreed, at NASA’s request, to do 3 years of random drug testing. Not even trace quantities were found of any drugs or alcohol. @WSJ is not fit to line a parrot cage for bird (poop emoji).” 

Besides weed during the Rogan interview, the Journal piece outlined only a few incidents that mentioned Musk taking specific drugs. It said he took multiple tabs of acid at a party in Los Angeles in 2018, shrooms at a party in 2019, and ketamine with his brother Kimbal Musk at Art Basel in 2021. The Journal previously reported that Musk uses ketamine, both as a depression treatment and recreationally. Musk has tweeted that ketamine, which is used off-label in the U.S. to treat mental health conditions. is a “better option” for treating depression than SSRIs (a type of antidepressant). 

The Journal also alleged he had taken “illegal drugs” with a SpaceX board member, but didn’t say what drugs. 

The story referenced a few times where people suspected Musk was “under the influence” of drugs, but didn’t provide any witness accounts or other evidence to support that, besides Musk’s erratic behaviour. Those incidents included a SpaceX company event in 2017, to which he arrived late, slurred his words and was “unhinged” and “cringeworthy,” according to anonymous executives who spoke to the Journal. Board members also feared he was on drugs when he tweeted in 2018 about taking Tesla private for $420 a share—a tweet that sparked a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation and cost $40 million in fines. Musk choked up during a 2018 interview with the New York Times, with sources telling the Journal he was “under the influence” during the interview, though the story didn’t say what he’d allegedly been consuming at the time. 

After Musk smoked weed with Rogan, NASA, which works with SpaceX, required SpaceX employees to be trained on drug-free workplace regulations, the Journal said. Musk said NASA also required drug testing. 

The story alluded to other potential sources of Musk’s bizarre behaviour, including his lack of sleep. Musk has speculated publicly that he has undiagnosed bipolar disorder and has said he has Asperger's syndrome, which is on the autism spectrum. 

For people using stimulants like meth and cocaine, the lack of sleep resulting from taking those drugs can exacerbate paranoia or even psychosis. While the Journal article mentioned cocaine and MDMA, it didn’t detail incidents where Musk is alleged to have used those drugs. 

In response to the article, some drug policy experts have pointed out that drugs don’t automatically make people behave poorly. 

“Drugs don’t make people do bad things; they can lower inhibitions for people who already want to do bad things to act on those existing impulses,” tweeted Dr. Ryan Marino, medical director of toxicology and addiction medicine at University Hospitals in Cleveland. 

“Elon Musk isn’t terrible [because] he uses ketamine.” 

Marino added that drugs “cannot teach learned behaviors or cause purposeful actions.” 

“Don’t make up excuses for people behaving badly, and please don’t further stigmatize drugs and the majority of non-terrible people who use them,” Marino said.