Elon Musk’s drug use so worried his business associates and company board members that they asked him to go to rehab and even take a break from working to “dry out” from various substances, including LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, and ketamine, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.
Musk’s close friend, former Tesla director Larry Ellison, also the billionaire cofounder of Oracle, went so far as to urge Musk to travel to Hawaii during the winter of 2022 to “relax from work and dry out from the drugs,” the outlet reported, citing people familiar with the offer.
Ellison’s proposal came amid increasing concerns among Musk’s friends and associates that Musk’s drug use was getting worse, per The Journal.
At a party in the Hollywood Hills around the time of Ellison’s offer, one person who attended the event said Musk drank ecstasy in “liquid form” from a water bottle after having his personal security clear the floor for privacy, the report continued.
The Journal reported the “volume” of Musk’s drug use has contributed to a culture of peer pressure among Musk’s friends and board directors of his various companies that created an “expectation” for them to use drugs alongside him to maintain the social status gained by being close to the billionaire.
Musk, Ellison, and their lawyers, Alex Spiro and Christopher Muzzi, did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
Musk, who is reportedly one of several executives in Silicon Valley to try his hand at psychedelics like ketamine, has also indulged in LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, and magic mushrooms, according to extensive reporting from The Journal.
Despite proclaiming that he doesn’t “like doing illegal drugs,” Musk’s drug use has previously put him and his companies on notice.
After he smoked marijuana on an episode of a Joe Rogan podcast, NASA made SpaceX pledge in writing that the company is following federal guidelines on drug use in the workplace. The company spent $5 million in taxpayer money to properly train its employees on the rules, the Journal reported.
The billionaire also shared on X that he has a prescription for ketamine, which recent research has suggested can be used to treat depression.
Experts previously told Business Insider that the combination of reported hard drugs Musk used comes with several health risks, especially at his age as a 52-year-old.
Those include irregular heartbeat, incontinence, and psychosis if the user has bipolar disorder, which CNBC reported Musk once suggested he had to his Twitter followers in 2017.
