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I think it's fair to say that ketamine may be affecting his faculties, but this is dipping it's toe into "the drugs make him do it!" sanewashing.
Drugs don't make people assholes. They were assholes before they took the drugs, and the drugs emphasise what an asshole they are.
People have been known to change personalities and become like that after serious brain injuries. Not uncommon for such people to become right wing.
I don't know much about ketamines effect on the brain..
I have a running theory that the reason celebs like telia tequila and Kanye suddenly veer so hard to crazy town is brain damaged caused by overdose/suicide and being clinically deaad + sent to weird brainwashing rehab facilities
As a very wise person once told me about acid, it doesn't change you as much as it makes you more like yourself.
Put an A-hole down the K-hole and guess what comes out the other end?
I'm gonna tap the sign.
(The Drug User's Bible, by Dominic Milton Trott)
Do not let Elon Musk own ketamine. It is a valid depression treatment.
Well...it's found to effective at halting the immediate effects of severe depression. In other words, it's just enough to stop someone from going suicidal or worse. It has NOT been shown to be a good candidate for long-term use in treating general depression in anyone, in fact, there's a larger nunber of studies correlating Ketamine abuse with mental defect than showing it useful in a medical capacity.
There's a huge difference between those two things. Here's a study that only looked at previous records (no conflict of interest in new study targets) : https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8972190/
Well…it’s found to effective at halting the immediate effects of severe depression. In other words, it’s just enough to stop someone from going suicidal or worse. It has NOT been shown to be a good candidate for long-term use in treating general depression in anyone, in fact, there’s a larger nunber of studies correlating Ketamine abuse with mental defect than showing it useful in a medical capacity.
That, and with the resources available to someone like Elon, I am sure he has some personal doctor giving him regular recreational access if he wants to.
That being said, the article is a bit sensationalist. It shouldn't be ruled out as a contributing factor, but Elon has basically always had that confused arsehole streak to his character.
Correct. However, it is effective in the short term, which makes its short term use valid. Occasional recreational use is also valid. I feel psychedelics are a better option in most cases. Elon Musk has chosen to use ketamine chronically--carelessness in, carelessness out. He shouldn't be the face of ketamine. I'm rightfully concerned about the demonization of ketamine due to these headlines, when the only thing that should be demonized is Musk.
Musk is the same person who said homelessness is a propaganda word for useless drug addicts. Anti-drug sentiment is a dangerous radical right ideology. People must remember this when discussing this subject. I've seen comments on many posts relating to politicians and drug use with an inherently negative stance on drugs, particularly with Musk, which is my reason for tapping the sign. The articles themselves often have an anti-drug bias, and I feel that's showing itself here a little.
Keep discourse in good faith.
Growing up the son of a wealthy emerald-mine owning dysfunctional family in apartheid South Africa explains a lot of his behavior too.
And grandson of the head of the “technocracy” party in Canada: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_N._Haldeman
Ketamine, like any drug, should be thoroughly researched. Whether good, bad, or mixed, the knowledge would be useful.
In any case, I think that being wealthy is the most dangerous drug of all. It frees you from the consequences of your actions. Being invulnerable from society, prevents you from knowing what it means to be harmed. It is why rich folks tend to be assholes, since they don't understand the reality of being human. They are more akin to space aliens or dragons.
...at this point, excessive wealth is something I believe to be a drug that harms society, not individuals.
Ketamine, like any drug, should be thoroughly researched.
Hey man, go easy on him. He's researching it as hard as he can, while balancing other responsibilities, like running DOGE. Have you ever tried working for the federal government with a cranium full of ketamine? It's not as easy as he makes it look.
They gave my cat ket before they euthanized her. She looked absolutely blissful, but certainly in no fit state to run a government.
I mean this in the nicest way, but your cat would make an excellent replacement for the current governor.
Who cares what the cause of the behavior is? It is unacceptable.
That should be enough. No need to even try to explain of empathize with it.
But it is telling that the richest man in the history of mankind acts like this. People should see that wealth does not equate to strength, intelligence, good politics, etc. But instead people see wealth as a way to get away with anything they want, even if it is completely embarrassing stuff that no one with self respect would even think about.
Being a massive shithead also explains a lot of it. Including the drug use.
I have a lot of ketamine users in my town and many highly functioning ones and it's very clear that the drug has long tail disassociative effects. They are so disconnected and zombie like despite seemingly functional.
I say this as a psychonaut myself - long term K use is pretty scary but people are afraid to shit on K because if not abused it's seems to have a lot of powerful positive effects on many.
Life is literally an exercise in balance and homeostasis. Too much of anything is almost always bad in the long term.
People are too hard on drugs. Drugs are great. the ketamine might be helping for all we know. It's money and feeling unwanted as a child that has caused this man's brain damage.
You can see the insecure little boy in him so much. Him and Joe Rogan. They are so obviously doing everything in themselves to have some confidence but not even millions and billions of dollars can fill that hole of abandonment.
Right, no one does the amount of steroids Joe Rogan does without having a severe case of body dysmorphia or something similar
Little boy feels unwanted.
Little boy commits to getting rich and successful so he'll feel wanted.
Little boy achieves success.
Little boy finds out the money prevents him from forming any meaningful relationships.
The world burns.
I'm currently taking 80mg ketamine troches and can verify that I am not a sociopathic Nazi.
A fragile ego and sense of entitlement could also explain a lot of it. This comes from experience and, thankfully, at least some people can get better.
I dunno man, I've done ketamine and it didn't turn me into a nazi.
Maybe he's just a bad person.
I'm not huge into drugs, can someone explain to me why a billionaire takes ketamine? Isn't it a prescription painkiller?
Shouldn't he be smoking brainstem of an endangered rainforest frog, or some nameless lab chemical synthesized personally for him?
It's a dissociative drug that has long been used as a field anesthetic because there's a very wide range of doses that are both effective and non-lethal. It's shown promise in recent years as a treatment for depression and certain other conditions that are resistant to traditional treatments. Ketamine is also sort of fun to do recreationally for the affirmation dissociative effects. Elon Musk is basically a drug addict at this point. He's abusing it way too often and is healthy or safe to do
I don't know about ketamine but I have been around people on Amphetamines. He acts like they did. So a guy trying to run 3 companies at the same time would presumably use amphetamines to have the time. You can go for days without sleeping.
Excuses at this point
Or him having been an entitled narcissist surrounded by sycophants for his entire life.
Hey look, the media blaming drugs for stupid people doing stupid shit.
This isn't the ketamine. He would probably be even worse without it.
Who is giving him this shit?
Catch me on the street with whatever pharmacy of dugs Musk is taking and I’d probably be sitting in front of a judge pretty quickly. Just another example of the rich doing whatever the F they want with no consequences.
Ketamine is the least of this dude's problems.
I mean.. we all have that friend who does mushrooms or drops acid and thinks they are the savior of the human race.
The only difference is that the next day they have to go work their shift at IHOP rather than waking up and being the richest person in the world.