Elon Musk Defends Ketamine Use, Says Good ‘From an Investor Standpoint’

Tesla CEO Elon Musk defended using Ketamine in a new interview with Don Lemon. He believes it’s good for business.

“From a standpoint of Wall Street, what matters is execution. Are you building value for investors? Tesla is worth about as much as the rest of the car industry combined,” Musk told Lemon. “So from an investor standpoint, if there is something I’m taking, I should keep taking it.”

Musk added during the interview, “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 also explained 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.”

The businessman denied that he overuses the medication, saying that if one uses too much ketamine, “you can’t really get work done.” He added that he typically puts in 16-hour workdays. Therefore, he really doesn’t have a situation where he cannot be mentally acute for an extended period.

After bringing up Musk’s tendency to post controversial opinions on X, Lemon asked Musk whether he’s sober when he posts late at night. The billionaire said he “almost always” is and that he doesn’t drink.

The Food and Drug Administration approved a nasal spray form of ketamine as an antidepressant in 2019. However, the drug has a reputation as an easy-to-acquire club drug with some hallucinogenic effects. 

Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that has some hallucinogenic effects, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The drug binds to the NMDA receptors and is essentially a “stop” signal. It starts to interfere with the connection between your brain and your body. The Food and Drug Administration issued a notice in October 2023 that ketamine has not been approved for the treatment of psychiatric disorders.