Does Elon Musk use ketamine? Does the SpaceX owner take the drug, is it behind his erratic behaviour - what is it and its side effects

In an interview with Citizen Free Press in 2024 Musk explained why he uses Ketamine. He told former CNN reporter Don Lemon: "There are times when I have a negative chemical state in my brain, like depression, I guess. Ketamine is helpful for getting one out of a negative frame of mind.

“Obviously, I'm not a doctor, but I would say, if someone has depression issues, they should consider talking to their doctor about ketamine instead of SSRIs.” Lemon asked him if he abuses the drug, and Musk said no. He said he could not afford to "get wasted" because he has to work a lot.

The day after the interview was published Musk posted on X about ketamine as well. In a reply to a video of Jim Cramer, a television presenter, discussing Musk's comments with Lemon, Musk said he has talked about ketamine on X for years hoping "it might help people struggling with bouts of depression."

Musk wrote on 19 March 2024 on X: “The reason I posted about ketamine (at some personal risk) is that I thought it might help people struggling with bouts of depression. In my opinion, it is a far better solution than being zombified by SSRI’s.”

However, The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk also takes the drug recreationally, and in 2023, Ronan Farrow reported in The New Yorker that Musk’s “associates” were worried that ketamine, “alongside his isolation and his increasingly embattled relationship with the press, might contribute to his tendency to make chaotic and impulsive statements and decisions.” Ketamine is called a dissociative drug because during a high, which lasts about an hour, people might feel detached from their body, their emotions, or the passage of time.

Frequent, heavy recreational use has been linked to cognitive effects that last beyond the high, including impaired memory, delusional thinking, superstitious beliefs, and a sense of specialness and importance. His late-night posts on X, mass emails to federal employees, and erratic behaviours on stage for example waving a chainsaw in the air, has prompted even more questions about his drug use.

Ketamine was first approved as an anaesthetic in 1970, because it could make people lose consciousness without affecting the quality of their breathing. In the 2000s, researchers found that doses of ketamine that didn’t put people to sleep could rapidly reduce symptoms of depression, because, they thought the drug altered the physical circuitry of the brain.

In 2019, the FDA approved a nasal spray containing a form of ketamine called esketamine for patients with depression who hadn’t responded to other treatments. Across the US bespoke ketamine clinics offer shots and lozenges to treat a wide variety of mental-health conditions, including anxiety and PTSD.

According to the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust the effects of taking it long term are unknown, and there may also be unusual side-effects which occur acutely which have not yet been reported. Listed below are the side effects that have been reported.

• Feeling dissociated (mind and body feel separate).
• ‘Ego dissolution’.
• Dizziness.
• Feeling a bit drunk or lightheaded.
• Feeling tired for the rest of the day after treatment.
• Altered perception.
• Nausea or vomiting.
• Anxiety.
• Headache.
• Tinnitus – a ringing in the ears.
• Temporary bruising
• An increase in blood pressure or a fast heart rate.