Elon Musk noted this Monday in an interview that his prescribed use of ketamine relieves his periods of low mood and is in the best interest of investors in Tesla and the other companies he runs, such as X (Twitter) or SpaceX.
For Wall Street, “what matters is execution,” he launched in an interview with former CNN anchor Don Lemon broadcast on YouTube. “From an investor’s point of view, if there’s something I’m doing, I should keep doing it,” he said, referring to Tesla’s success.
Musk, 52, said he takes the medication periodically as prescribed to treat what he described as “chemical tides” and “negative mindset” that cause depression-like symptoms. Doctors may prescribe ketamine to treat pain and depression, and at higher doses, it acts as a sedative. It can also cause hallucinations, and an overdose can cause unconsciousness and dangerously slow breathing, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
The millionaire, one of the biggest fortunes on the planet, denied having abused ketamine and said he takes “a small dose once every two weeks or so,” adding that it was prescribed to him to “get out of a negative state of mind.” Stating that one of Tesla’s models was “the best-selling car in the world last year,” he reiterated: “From an investor’s point of view, if I take something, then I have to keep taking it.”
An article published in January in the Wall Street Journal claimed that Tesla and SpaceX executives had begun to worry about Musk’s recreational drug use. He responded that he had not tested positive in anti-doping controls and, in a post on his social network X, he said that “whatever he does, he should obviously keep doing it!”
In the almost hour-long interview, Musk also talked about his meeting with Donald Trump last March, but did not specify who he will support in the November presidential election. He said he was “moving away” from Democratic President Joe Biden without endorsing Trump, and said “a lot can happen between now and the election.”
The publication of the interview occurs after X canceled a collaboration with Lemon to make a program on this social network. After interviewing him and before publication, Lemon said Musk didn’t like his line of questioning, including those regarding ketamine use, and announced the cancellation. At the time, Musk argued for his part in a post on X that he didn’t like the approach of the show, which he said was “basically like CNN, but on social media.”
