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Elon Musk Drug Use Concerns Business Leaders | Pivot

January 09, 2024 / 26:39

This episode discusses Elon Musk's reported drug use, particularly ketamine, and its implications for his leadership at Tesla and SpaceX. The conversation features insights from Dr. Jeffrey Swisser about ketamine's effects and potential risks.

The episode opens with a Wall Street Journal article highlighting concerns from Tesla and SpaceX board members regarding Musk's ongoing drug use. The hosts mention Musk's previous drug-related incidents, including his infamous appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast.

Dr. Jeffrey Swisser joins the discussion to explain ketamine's medical uses and its psychological effects. He emphasizes that while ketamine can be beneficial in controlled environments, its recreational use poses risks of dependence and impaired functioning.

The hosts reflect on the broader implications of Musk's behavior, particularly regarding his influence and the lack of accountability from his board. They discuss the importance of having supportive relationships to help manage personal struggles.

The episode concludes with a cautionary note about the potential dangers of substance abuse, particularly for high-profile individuals like Musk, who may not face the same consequences as others.

TL;DR

Elon Musk's reported ketamine use raises concerns about his leadership at Tesla and SpaceX, discussed by Dr. Jeffrey Swisser and the hosts.

Video

00:00:00
our first big story and we've got to get
00:00:01
to it uh is a uh a Wall Street Journal
00:00:04
piece it's a new piece that came out
00:00:06
last night um Elon Musk has used illegal
00:00:08
drugs worrying leaders at Tesla and
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SpaceX the article cites people close to
00:00:13
musk who say his drug use is ongoing
00:00:15
that includes board members it feels
00:00:17
like and and one one name specifically
00:00:19
but it looks like they were all talking
00:00:21
particularly the ketamine and there are
00:00:23
concerns it could cause a Health crisis
00:00:25
or damage the business uh musk has a lot
00:00:27
of business um with uh with the
00:00:30
government and he is already I don't
00:00:32
know if he was sanctioned but he had to
00:00:33
do drug tests after he smoked weed on
00:00:35
Joe Rogan this is seemingly more serious
00:00:38
and it's interesting that um you know
00:00:40
this has been around we've talked about
00:00:42
it uh Ronan phoh wrote about it like
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lots of people have cited this issue not
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so much in Walter isaacson's book uh
00:00:49
which it should have uh had more about
00:00:51
it um but it's a it's sort of an Open
00:00:54
Secret about this and the Wall Street
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Journal obviously has lawyered up to to
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be able to say this um in a minute we're
00:01:01
going to bring on uh my brother Jeff
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swisser to help us talk through this one
00:01:05
uh just first reaction Scott and that
00:01:07
I'll bring on Jeff First Reactions look
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I we talk a lot about substances uh the
00:01:13
majority of people I believe who use
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substances manage them and I'm not an
00:01:18
anti-substance person but um along those
00:01:21
same lines there's just no free lunch
00:01:23
and when I saw um when I saw Elon Musk
00:01:27
in that interview at the times dealbook
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I'm like he's [ __ ] up yeah and and
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there it all comes back to one saying
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what I tell young people around their
00:01:38
use of substances is there's just no
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free lunch there and what I have and
00:01:42
I'll stop here but the thing that really
00:01:44
struck me was when I was in Aspen this
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summer um I was alone and I was bored
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and a friends that I have a bunch of
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friends there and we all went to dinner
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like 12 of us bunch of total players and
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technology and private equity and we
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went to this lounge and I said said what
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can I get every when I'm headed to the
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bar and they said and this guy goes they
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all kind of nodded or laughed and said
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we're all on ketamine and I thought oh
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my God everybody this is like six men
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Six Women and the tech The Tech
00:02:12
Community likes to believe they have
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found a free lunch and and we said this
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before no repercussions like no such
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thing there's no such thing I haven't
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found it yet maybe caffeine caffeine's
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supposedly the closest thing to a free
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launch but I haven't found it I'm sure
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I'm curious with Dr swisser thanks yeah
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we'll bring him on it was interesting
00:02:32
because you know this was the holiday
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season this came out um where he has
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some time off um I had heard rumors
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there was rumors running around Silicon
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Valley that they had him in Hawaii last
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year same thing um and obviously he's
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talked about it let's be clear he's
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talked about his use of ketamine he's
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talked about his mental health issues um
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obviously smoked weed on Joe Rogan and
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nothing wrong with that except he has
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government contracts which is is a big
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problem and I think away from his own
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health which makes you worry um because
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there's been history of a lot of tech
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people like this getting into real
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trouble like Tony Shay um and uh you
00:03:10
know I think it's been an ongoing
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discussion among and between people in
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Silicon Valley and this one example in
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the piece was him being incomprehensible
00:03:19
during uh a SpaceX meeting um and I
00:03:22
think you're right that interview I I
00:03:24
looked at it and I thought what he's on
00:03:26
something I mean I I don't have any
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reported knowledge of it but it really
00:03:31
was such a bizarre um interview it
00:03:34
seemed either mental health or something
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else was happening anyway we're not
00:03:38
experts so we're bringing on my brother
00:03:40
Dr Jeffrey swisser to help us talk
00:03:42
through this one hey Cara how you doing
00:03:44
in the house by the way whose idea whose
00:03:47
idea was it to bring on the good doctor
00:03:48
whose idea was it you you it was not my
00:03:51
idea it was your idea but it's a good
00:03:52
idea thank you Scott and it's good to
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see you when it's not Scott free August
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and uh it's fantastic you look great man
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um I do Cara I do have unfortunately one
00:04:01
Scott joke for you so Scott a Scotsman
00:04:03
goes to the doctor's office right and he
00:04:06
goes into the doctor and he lifts up his
00:04:08
uh Kilt and he says Doctor I don't know
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I think I'm going crazy and the doctor
00:04:12
says I don't know about crazy but I can
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sure see your
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nuts oh is like oh is like swi oh is
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like SC Scott are you on ketamine Jeff
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cuz that's what it sounds like no you're
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not a ketamine user explain I you use
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ketamine ketamine uh let me talk to you
00:04:31
a little bit about ketamine so ketamine
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is what's known as a dissociative
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anesthetic and that's really important
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to understand you know what it does it
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it dissociates you from essentially
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reality um it was first uh synthesized
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in 1962 the year you were born Cara and
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um it um was FDA approved in around
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1970 for use in anesthesia um and I use
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it uh really pretty much on a daily
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basis it's a very very useful anesthetic
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and in fact the World Health
00:05:02
Organization lists it as one of the you
00:05:04
know invaluable drugs uh in the world
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it's really good because it has a lot of
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um beneficial effects from an anesthetic
00:05:12
standpoint it's not a respiratory
00:05:13
depressant uh in usual doses it's not
00:05:17
cardiac depressant um in fact it
00:05:19
slightly increases blood pressure and
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heart rate and it doesn't uh blunt
00:05:23
Airway reflexes so it can be used uh in
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a prehospital setting let's say in the
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emergency room to sedate children uh I
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use it as an adjunct anesthetic uh I use
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it to because it helps uh decrease the
00:05:35
amount of opiates I use in the operating
00:05:37
room uh I use it for procedural sedation
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if I'm going to be doing something
00:05:41
painful uh let's say a regional
00:05:44
anesthetic block of the upper extremity
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I will give somebody you know 30 or 40
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milligrams of ketamine and it allows
00:05:49
them to actually participate but
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essentially not be there um in the sense
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that they feel calmer right what's yeah
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actually they do they do you know
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depending on the person they do sort of
00:06:02
you know leave their their body in a
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sense in fact some people describe aaman
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experiences similar to a near-death
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experience where they can actually see
00:06:11
themselves let's say floating above
00:06:12
their body um I the best description of
00:06:15
ketamine from a patient that I ever had
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was uh he told me afterwards he says
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imagine that you're driving a car toward
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a beautiful sunset and the Grateful Dead
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is playing on the radio and it's a
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fantastic wonderful day uh with the
00:06:28
breeze blowing through the window now
00:06:30
for a second imagine that you're not
00:06:31
driving the car but you are the car and
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you're driving and all of a sudden
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you're not driving the car you're a
00:06:36
passenger in the car and uh and that's
00:06:39
really a really great description of
00:06:40
ketamine people describe a feeling of
00:06:42
melting you know you've heard the
00:06:44
expression khole um K people sort of
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fall into this kind of warm molasses pit
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when they're on it and it's a very
00:06:52
pleasant experience for most people not
00:06:54
everybody some people do get you know
00:06:57
you know frightening dreams Etc on it
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for most part it's a great anesthetic
00:07:01
short happen with surgery where they get
00:07:03
dreams or anything oh yeah all the time
00:07:05
I mean people describe you know one of
00:07:07
the most common uses for it is um when
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I'm doing let's say a little old lady U
00:07:13
with a hip fracture and it's very
00:07:15
painful to put someone on their side uh
00:07:18
to do a spinal anesthetic so I'll give
00:07:20
them 10 or 20 milligrams of ketamine and
00:07:23
they love it I mean they wake up
00:07:24
afterwards and they say that's the best
00:07:26
experience I've ever had so it's a very
00:07:28
euphoric drug and I can understand why
00:07:30
people would use it for recreational
00:07:32
purposes uh not that it's safe to do so
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um
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because talk about it in a recreational
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context out outside of the medical
00:07:41
context and that is my understanding is
00:07:43
in contrast with alcohol or opiates it's
00:07:45
not physically addictive but it can be
00:07:47
psychologically addictive and that's
00:07:50
exactly right what we were saying before
00:07:51
is that Tech Bros or the Tech Community
00:07:54
or just successful people in general
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like to believe they found a better
00:07:59
blueberry or a better solar panel like
00:08:02
their Tech their diet is better and I
00:08:06
have found the same thing is true here
00:08:08
that people feel that ketamine is a
00:08:10
safer High talk about it in the context
00:08:14
of addiction and you know recreational
00:08:17
use sure so you know ketamine a it's
00:08:20
widely available it's very inexpensive
00:08:21
to make and therefore you can get it
00:08:24
fairly easily uh on the street um it is
00:08:27
a you know relative ly safe drug in in
00:08:31
the sense that you know as opposed to
00:08:33
methamphetamine which can be really
00:08:35
dangerous if you have you know you know
00:08:37
cardiac issues ETC or cocaine um the the
00:08:41
problem is that like any recreational
00:08:44
drug uh people tend to binge it uh they
00:08:46
like the feeling of it and then they
00:08:48
need to start upping their doses um of
00:08:50
ketamine and I mean you know the really
00:08:52
unfortunate situation that happened
00:08:54
recently is Matthew Perry um and Matthew
00:08:57
Perry was legitimately getting therapy
00:09:00
with ketamine for depression and we can
00:09:02
talk about that if you want at some
00:09:03
point but but the uh the problem is he
00:09:06
he also was using it recreationally and
00:09:09
and he also had other substances in his
00:09:12
body on the Corner's report yeah so the
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piece quotes uh an attorney uh for musk
00:09:16
saying that he is quote regularly and
00:09:18
randomly drug tested at SpaceX and has
00:09:20
never failed a test but we don't know
00:09:23
can you talk about and the attorney said
00:09:25
there are other false facts In The Wall
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Street Journal but didn't have any
00:09:28
details so um this is Alex SPO who who
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is sort of musk's lawyer front man but
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um what do you how do you think about
00:09:37
drug testing on this on this kind of
00:09:39
thing well you can there are ways of
00:09:42
testing for ketamine the the metabolite
00:09:44
it's metabolized by the liver and
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there's several metabolites of ketamine
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which are detectable uh it's cleared uh
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by the liver but it's excreted in urine
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and feces so you can certainly test for
00:09:53
it uh the problem is it's a fairly short
00:09:55
acting medication and um uh it depends
00:09:59
when you use it and what the levels are
00:10:01
clearly with Matthew Perry for instance
00:10:03
they had it immediately because you know
00:10:04
he wasn't metabolizing anymore after he
00:10:06
died but um but for people who are using
00:10:10
it you have to catch it fairly soon
00:10:12
after they use it to detect it uh which
00:10:14
is one of the reason Scott uh you
00:10:16
mentioned that I think a lot of these uh
00:10:17
Tech Bros and stuff are using it um but
00:10:20
you know great caution because dosing is
00:10:23
very important the other thing about
00:10:25
ketamine I want to mention is that it
00:10:26
can be given via a variety of routes
00:10:29
uh so you can inject it intravenously
00:10:31
you can subcutaneously inject it you can
00:10:33
intramuscularly inject it you can snort
00:10:36
it you can swallow it you can put it up
00:10:38
your behind if you want uh there's a lot
00:10:40
of ways of taking ketamine and so it's
00:10:43
very um bioavailable as put it that way
00:10:45
you know intravenously yeah bioavailable
00:10:48
100% intravenously down to about 50% if
00:10:51
you take it orally or or sorted it's
00:10:53
about 50 to 70% how do most people when
00:10:56
you you give it you do it intravenously
00:10:57
because you're in an operating I do both
00:10:59
people recre when I give it I give it
00:11:02
intravenously and intramuscularly it's a
00:11:04
very useful drug let's say if you have a
00:11:06
person with a um you know severe mental
00:11:09
disorder who is combative uh prior to
00:11:11
anesthesia and I want to start an IV uh
00:11:14
I can give people intramuscular ketamine
00:11:16
in that situation uh and it takes a
00:11:18
little bit but then they'll sort of fall
00:11:19
asleep but usually I give it
00:11:21
intravenously but I think most people
00:11:23
who using it recreationally are probably
00:11:25
snorting it snorting it okay so um let's
00:11:28
talk about the Matthew Perot you were
00:11:30
referencing he the the corner said he
00:11:32
died from the acute effects of ketamine
00:11:34
um uh he was on ketamine infusion
00:11:37
therapy as you noted um talk a little
00:11:40
bit about these therapies because you
00:11:42
know I I'm about to interview Joe Green
00:11:44
tomorrow there's a lot of people trying
00:11:46
very hard to replace opiates and other
00:11:48
things with ketamine and other
00:11:50
psychedelics um is it is that
00:11:54
problematic or is just the abuse
00:11:56
problematic um I I think it's the abuse
00:11:59
a problematic I mean ketamine um for for
00:12:02
depression is an off-label use I mean
00:12:04
and not that off Lael uses are wrong in
00:12:06
fact we we every day doctors use
00:12:09
medications in an off-label manner it
00:12:11
just means it's not FDA approved for
00:12:13
that indication um they actually did
00:12:15
make a what's called an an Anan of
00:12:18
ketamine uh called esketamine which is a
00:12:20
nasal spray which was approved by the
00:12:23
FDA I think in
00:12:25
2019 uh it's called spado and that's
00:12:29
that that was the indication for that is
00:12:31
depression and it's and as I said it's a
00:12:33
mirror isomer of ketamine it's the same
00:12:35
drug but the mirror isomer of it um but
00:12:38
ketamine clinics have popped up like
00:12:40
Kudzu you know all over the place and uh
00:12:43
it's very very expensive I mean
00:12:44
thousands of dollars for uh a couple
00:12:47
sessions of injecting now keep in mind
00:12:49
that the injection of ketamine in these
00:12:51
clinics is a very small dose it's
00:12:53
typically a half a milligram per
00:12:55
kilogram so usually 30 to 40 Mig in used
00:12:59
over about a 40-minute period that's not
00:13:01
a lot it's not a lot to get you super
00:13:03
high um a little dissociative but not
00:13:05
super high when you're using it
00:13:07
recreationally you know who knows how
00:13:09
much people are using they you know you
00:13:11
can't really regulate your dosage right
00:13:13
now now one thing Elon tweeted about
00:13:15
ketamine last June depression is
00:13:17
overdiagnosed in the US um but for some
00:13:19
people it is really brain chemistry
00:13:21
issue he went on to say zombifying
00:13:23
people with
00:13:24
ssris uh for sure happens way too much
00:13:26
from what I've seen with friends
00:13:28
ketamine yeah my best some of my best
00:13:30
friends use ketamine ketamine taken
00:13:31
occasionally is a better option um how
00:13:35
do you when you hear him say that I mean
00:13:37
a lot of people have problems with
00:13:39
SSRS ssris yeah Ser selective serotonin
00:13:43
reuptake Inhibitors um is what that
00:13:46
stands for so ketamine is in the class
00:13:48
of drugs that are called nmda
00:13:50
antagonists and there's a lot of uh of
00:13:54
um very useful uh work that's being done
00:13:57
understanding nmda and agonists in
00:13:59
general for depression and the research
00:14:02
on it is it's a I wouldn't say it's
00:14:04
definitive but it's definitely
00:14:05
statistically significant that ketamine
00:14:09
definitely improves symptoms of both
00:14:10
unipolar and bipolar depression um in
00:14:14
the short term the question is is it a
00:14:16
lasting effect that's hard to know and I
00:14:18
think that's ongoing research and
00:14:21
personally I think you know Mr musk is
00:14:23
correct in that sense I mean ssris are
00:14:26
very different uh and um then ketamine
00:14:29
still though ketamine is not a first
00:14:31
line therapy for depression it's
00:14:32
probably like a third line therapy but a
00:14:35
lot of people they're trying to get it
00:14:36
to be one for people with post-traumatic
00:14:38
stress Etc sure yeah PTSD is a good
00:14:41
indication for it um and you know I
00:14:43
personally know people whove had
00:14:44
ketamine therapy who swear by it who say
00:14:47
that it's really improved them um and so
00:14:50
I do think that you know shutting down
00:14:51
any kind of research on this that's why
00:14:53
I don't really like that Matthew Perry
00:14:55
article or even this Wall Street Journal
00:14:56
article because it demonizes uh a very
00:14:58
useful drug uh and ketamine is a very
00:15:01
useful drug I mean similar what happened
00:15:04
with Michael Jackson and propal I mean
00:15:06
every day people tell me you're not
00:15:08
going to give me that propofol drug it's
00:15:09
like yeah basically it's the most common
00:15:11
anesthetic in the world yes I'm going to
00:15:12
give it by the way it's amazing you know
00:15:14
when it is oh it's amazing it's amazing
00:15:17
whenever I've had a colonoscopy I take
00:15:19
that thing and 30 minutes later I'm I'm
00:15:22
I mean it's
00:15:24
amazing yeah no it's it's it's literally
00:15:26
probably the greatest invention in
00:15:28
anesthesia
00:15:29
in its history um but but K not for
00:15:32
daily nightly use no so that's the
00:15:34
problem is that you you know using
00:15:35
propofol in your living room by someone
00:15:37
who did not admit you know so they they
00:15:39
it's not the drug that's the problem
00:15:41
it's the person giving it or the person
00:15:42
taking it my sense is more generally as
00:15:45
it relates to drugs in our society and I
00:15:47
don't know if it's the far right or an
00:15:49
attempt to use drugs as a tool to keep
00:15:52
people of color down through
00:15:54
incarceration and Drug bill whatever it
00:15:56
might be but we have a tendency to go
00:15:58
very black and white uh marijuana helps
00:16:01
people sleep helps people with anxiety
00:16:03
helps kids with glaucoma but we just
00:16:05
decided oh it was all bad and it strikes
00:16:09
me that no one wants to have a Nuance
00:16:10
conversation around what is an
00:16:12
appropriate use of a drug and the fact
00:16:14
that something like 85% of people who
00:16:16
use alcohol and drugs are functioning
00:16:19
it's not impacting them in a terribly
00:16:21
negative way having said that alcohol is
00:16:25
a menace and terrible for tens of
00:16:27
millions of homes in America America but
00:16:29
nobody wants to have really what I would
00:16:31
describe as a thoughtful conversation
00:16:33
they want to assign something is only
00:16:35
used in a medical context but when it's
00:16:37
used outside of a medical context it's
00:16:39
immediately it must be all negative and
00:16:41
all bad and we demonize it criminalize
00:16:43
it and in my view just make make things
00:16:46
you know much much worse anyways it
00:16:48
wasn't a question it was a TED Talk yeah
00:16:50
I mean it's you're right the most
00:16:52
commonly abused drug by far in way is
00:16:54
alcohol and you know more people drown
00:16:56
because they uh are you know know drunk
00:16:59
and you know doing stupid things in
00:17:00
boats than than have ever been you know
00:17:03
drowned by ketamine it was not even
00:17:05
close right right but this creates a
00:17:07
situation when they're trying to bring
00:17:09
ketamine and other psychedelics into
00:17:11
really good medical uses and then it
00:17:14
gets you know either glamorized and
00:17:16
demonized both glamorized and demonized
00:17:18
by people like musk and others um which
00:17:21
is you know before it's a cart before
00:17:23
the horse because I think they will be
00:17:24
using these um it's an intriguing drug
00:17:27
correct um Scott what's what's the
00:17:29
responsibility of a board member in this
00:17:31
situation it looks like several board
00:17:33
members talked here someone's worried
00:17:35
this is why I can't imagine the journal
00:17:37
would move forward this uh you know rert
00:17:40
Murdoch and the Murdoch family would
00:17:41
move without some level of assurance
00:17:44
that they and I have to tell you
00:17:46
Discovery would be fascinating because I
00:17:48
don't think you know the stories of
00:17:50
elon's wild Hardy life are really quite
00:17:53
out there all the time and they just are
00:17:55
they just the governance question here
00:17:57
is complicated because supposedly there
00:17:59
was a director who resigned over
00:18:01
concerns of of most because they weren't
00:18:04
doing anything about it but I would
00:18:05
argue he doesn't and this goes to a
00:18:07
broader issue here I I would argue that
00:18:09
he doesn't have any governance that it's
00:18:11
family members and people who have made
00:18:12
so much money because of his genius and
00:18:14
his bold innovations that effectively
00:18:17
they have no power they're there to have
00:18:19
dinner once every three months and
00:18:20
collect a big check because his behavior
00:18:23
would not be tolerated across anything
00:18:25
resembling what you would call a real
00:18:27
Board of Governors are supposed to
00:18:28
represent fiduciaries they just they
00:18:30
just wouldn't allow it so he doesn't
00:18:32
have the the the duties the the the duty
00:18:37
and care that is levied on fiduciaries
00:18:39
in the form of boards of directors does
00:18:42
not and has not applied to Elon Musk for
00:18:44
a long long time the fact that he's
00:18:46
still on Twitter that would never be
00:18:48
allowed of a CEO who had done what he
00:18:51
has done a CEO incorrectly accuses
00:18:53
former employees of being pedophiles
00:18:56
would never be allowed to be a SE o he
00:18:58
plays by a different set of standards
00:19:00
and whether you think he should be
00:19:01
allowed to or not but it goes to a much
00:19:04
broader issue and I think the key issue
00:19:05
here and what I would describe as the
00:19:07
learning or the takeaway for young
00:19:08
people and that is the most important
00:19:11
thing you can have in your life is
00:19:13
people who love you and serve as
00:19:15
guardrails and to have people idolize
00:19:17
you is different than having people who
00:19:19
love you and I think the guy has a lot
00:19:21
of the former and not a lot of the
00:19:23
latter and as someone who has
00:19:25
participated in interventions they don't
00:19:27
invite powerful important people to
00:19:30
those interventions they invite people
00:19:32
who love you and this is turning into a
00:19:35
cautionary tale along the lines of Tony
00:19:38
Shay because you have a guy who as far
00:19:41
as I can tell is living alone doesn't
00:19:43
have a close relationship with a
00:19:45
romantic partner or his children and is
00:19:48
quite frankly just [ __ ] off the rails
00:19:52
and if if at the age of 52 you don't
00:19:54
have people in your life who can sit you
00:19:56
down and you listen to cuz because you
00:19:58
know that it's not that they got rich
00:20:01
because of you it's not because they
00:20:02
think you're just so [ __ ] awesome and
00:20:04
can land rockets on two surfboards it's
00:20:06
because they just full stop care about
00:20:09
you if you don't have that especially
00:20:12
men you you literally can lose it all
00:20:16
what happens with extended use of
00:20:19
ketamine if you use it a lot and there's
00:20:21
no guard rails as Scott says there
00:20:23
should be and I agree um what happens
00:20:26
over time to your mental state or do we
00:20:29
not know this I guess we probably do
00:20:31
right well yeah I mean there's some
00:20:33
research on chronic long-term use of
00:20:35
ketamine effects on the liver and on the
00:20:37
kidney I mean there are there are you
00:20:39
know physiologic effects of it which you
00:20:41
know large large scale use of it can be
00:20:44
toxic to your liver and kidney more
00:20:46
importantly I think though is then what
00:20:47
happens than well you could get I mean
00:20:49
anything can damage your liver I mean
00:20:51
there's there's so many well alcohol
00:20:53
number one is the biggest but uh so the
00:20:56
the big problem I think with ketamine is
00:20:58
uh the psychological as Scott mentioned
00:21:00
before the SK the psychological
00:21:02
dependence on it and it is a
00:21:04
dissociative anesthetic so you're not
00:21:06
going to behave normally if you're doing
00:21:08
high doses of ketamine it just will make
00:21:11
you not functional as a you know human
00:21:14
being you'll be you know high and and
00:21:17
then Scott as Elon also has a lot of
00:21:18
government contracts which was mentioned
00:21:20
in the journal article as CEO and
00:21:22
founder of SpaceX and he's also the key
00:21:24
man there musk has a security clearance
00:21:26
that gives him access to classified
00:21:28
information I think the journal was
00:21:29
trying to pin a like here's why we're
00:21:32
writing this thing um and obviously the
00:21:34
government has already uh objected when
00:21:36
he was doing the weed on Rogan this is a
00:21:39
Quantum level of problem I would think
00:21:42
yeah but again he's he's an exceptional
00:21:44
person that people and organizations
00:21:46
make exceptions for so for example he
00:21:49
can put a breakthrough heavy rocket he
00:21:52
can launch it and it can blow up and he
00:21:56
just puts another one up in a few weeks
00:21:58
NASA could never do that NASA could
00:21:59
never send projectiles into space to
00:22:01
blow up he is willing to take risks and
00:22:04
has access to Capital such that he can
00:22:06
put together
00:22:07
Communications um low orbit
00:22:09
Communications networks that the
00:22:10
government at least in this current
00:22:12
infrastructure or current regulatory
00:22:13
environment isn't able to do so he plays
00:22:15
a really valuable role and I I don't
00:22:17
want to be an apologist for the guy but
00:22:19
to think that he's going to be subject
00:22:20
to anything resembling the same
00:22:22
standards as other contractors you might
00:22:23
find it unfair and it is he there are
00:22:28
there are so many things he would have
00:22:30
lost all security clearances for that
00:22:32
the government has made exceptions
00:22:33
around he just plays by a different set
00:22:35
of rules and and I don't I'm not saying
00:22:38
that's right or wrong but you could
00:22:40
never see the head of the forestry
00:22:43
service or the CIA going on podcast
00:22:45
smoking a joint that person wouldn't be
00:22:48
allowed in the government a government
00:22:49
building again I I think it'll be
00:22:51
interesting to see how we react so last
00:22:53
question for each of you Scott how do
00:22:54
you think a musk is going to react I
00:22:56
haven't seen anything yet yet I have no
00:22:59
ability to predict his actions Cara I
00:23:01
just don't I don't understand um he'll
00:23:05
threaten to Susan yeah but I I don't
00:23:07
that's his goto and I think all his fans
00:23:09
will come to his come to his defense and
00:23:12
say that he's being persecuted and it's
00:23:15
bad reporting but I don't I you know
00:23:19
actually when I read that I felt bad
00:23:21
because I I I have had some people in my
00:23:23
life who have an addiction and I find
00:23:25
that slowly but surely when you know
00:23:27
you've lost them
00:23:28
is when they choose I remember one of
00:23:31
the interventions I was in one of the
00:23:33
most rattling moments I've ever had
00:23:34
everyone went around kid was addicted um
00:23:37
to heroin everyone around said their
00:23:39
peace said I love you all your heart's
00:23:41
in the right place I know this is going
00:23:42
to kill me I choose
00:23:45
heroin I
00:23:46
mean no one knew what to say so if he in
00:23:51
fact is I think he plays an important
00:23:53
role I don't like the man I think he
00:23:55
abuses his power but as it relates to
00:23:57
the Govern government Innovation he does
00:23:59
play an important role and you just got
00:24:01
to Hope a guy with 11 or 12 kids like
00:24:04
that gets help and you also hope that
00:24:08
the right way to react is if in fact he
00:24:10
is struggling that he's open about his
00:24:12
struggles and people can learn from it
00:24:14
because I do think a lot of people are
00:24:16
fighting these demons in quiet and and a
00:24:19
guy like that who is literally the idol
00:24:22
of of billions of people you know
00:24:25
optimistically you'd like to think he
00:24:26
could play a key role in educ about it
00:24:28
how he's what he's actually going to do
00:24:30
I have no idea you know him better than
00:24:31
I do car I back I think his tweets have
00:24:34
become I think this article means a lot
00:24:36
of people close to him are worried again
00:24:38
as they were last Christmas time um and
00:24:41
when there's a little downtime and I
00:24:44
think that's what it looked like to me
00:24:45
when I was I was like oh I know who that
00:24:47
who said that you know what I mean like
00:24:48
I could guess um so I think a lot of
00:24:50
people are worried um and they're
00:24:53
worried for a bad outcome in lots of
00:24:55
ways um not just economically
00:24:58
and maybe this was their way of talking
00:25:00
to him um his tweets recently have been
00:25:03
pretty unhinged or or juvenile recently
00:25:06
they're not they've not been I'm
00:25:07
spending some time thinking or anything
00:25:09
like that and so Jee that's my last
00:25:11
question if you were I know some of his
00:25:13
doctors um if you were his doctor what
00:25:16
would you say to him if he were to
00:25:20
listen well I would say that you know
00:25:23
any kind of poly substance abuse uh is
00:25:26
not necessarily in your best health
00:25:28
interests and uh you know clearly you
00:25:30
don't go around uh doing fairly powerful
00:25:35
um psychoactive medications and drive a
00:25:37
car or fly a plane or buy multi-billion
00:25:41
dollar uh social media companies um and
00:25:45
I think that um that's what I would tell
00:25:47
them it's just like you know like the
00:25:49
old adage everything in moderation I
00:25:51
mean one thing I just want to be clear
00:25:53
that you your listeners understand that
00:25:55
ketamine is not a dangerous drug in the
00:25:58
right hands uh but like any drug it can
00:26:01
be misused and it's a very useful drug
00:26:03
and I would hate to see a drug like
00:26:06
ketamine which is so useful being
00:26:08
demonized and there'll be government
00:26:10
reaction against it etc etc that would
00:26:12
be the worst possible thing that could
00:26:14
happen uh because it is a very useful
00:26:16
medication but I would just tell him you
00:26:18
know like Al I mean the same thing that
00:26:20
would if somebody came in and they were
00:26:21
showing signs of alcoholism I would say
00:26:24
this is really bad for you uh and this
00:26:26
is why you just give them information he
00:26:28
clearly is a very smart man and um you
00:26:31
know you try to appeal to people's
00:26:37
reason

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 70
    Most shocking
  • 70
    Most surprising
  • 70
    Most talked-about
  • 65
    Most heartbreaking

Episode Highlights

  • Elon Musk's Drug Use Concerns
    A Wall Street Journal article raises alarms about Elon Musk's ongoing drug use, particularly ketamine, and its potential impact on his businesses.
    “It feels like an open secret about this.”
    @ 00m 54s
    January 09, 2024
  • The Dangers of Substance Use
    A discussion on the risks associated with substance use, emphasizing that there's no such thing as a free lunch.
    “There's just no free lunch there.”
    @ 01m 40s
    January 09, 2024
  • Ketamine Therapy and Abuse
    Exploring the dual nature of ketamine as a therapeutic and recreational drug, with references to Matthew Perry's tragic story.
    “Ketamine is a very useful drug.”
    @ 15m 01s
    January 09, 2024
  • The Importance of Love
    Having people who love you is crucial for mental health and stability.
    “The most important thing you can have in your life is people who love you.”
    @ 19m 11s
    January 09, 2024
  • Cautionary Tale
    A cautionary tale about the dangers of isolation and lack of support.
    “If you don't have that, especially men, you can literally lose it all.”
    @ 20m 12s
    January 09, 2024
  • Addiction Awareness
    Reflecting on the painful reality of addiction and its impact on loved ones.
    “I felt bad because I've had people in my life who have an addiction.”
    @ 23m 19s
    January 09, 2024
  • Hope for Help
    The hope that influential figures seek help for their struggles.
    “You just got to hope a guy like that gets help.”
    @ 24m 04s
    January 09, 2024
  • Educating on Struggles
    The potential for public figures to raise awareness about personal struggles.
    “A guy like that could play a key role in educating about struggles.”
    @ 24m 26s
    January 09, 2024

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • Open Secret00:54
  • Substance Use Discussion01:10
  • Ketamine Insights04:33
  • Matthew Perry Reference08:57
  • Love and Support19:11
  • Isolation Dangers20:12
  • Addiction Reflection23:19
  • Hope for Recovery24:04

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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