After appearing on Episode 1169 of “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, Tesla CEO Elon Musk went under a series of drug tests and faced the “not good” consequences of smoking weed on camera.
The podcast episode, currently the most-watched for the popular podcast, garnered attention after the tech billionaire smoked weed. However, the results of this were devastating for Musk and his companies.
During an interview on the “Full Send” podcast, Musk revealed that “consequences for me and for SpaceX were actually not good, because [weed] is federally illegal and SpaceX had federal contracts.”
“I had to have like random drug tests and stuff after that, to prove that I’m not like a drug addict,” Musk said in the interview. “They drug tested me for everything, and randomly… I had like a whole year of random drug tests.”
Cannabis Isn’t Legal Through the U.S.
While some states like California and New York have legalized cannabis for medicinal and adult recreational use, the drug is not federally legal in the United States. In other states, like Texas, Kansas, and Georgia, weed is illegal and those with the drug would face possession charges.
For Musk, the controversial puff on Rogan’s podcast in 2018 took place in California before Rogan relocated his studio to Austin, Texas after his Spotify deal in 2020.
However, marijuana’s status in the U.S. could be changing soon. According to Moneywise, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed to reclassify the drug from a Schedule I to Schedule III substance under the Controlled Substance Act.
Cannabis Might Be Reclassified
Instead of being in the same classification as heroin and LSD, marijuana would shift from sharing their notorious Schedule I label to Schedule III alongside anabolic steroids and ketamine, substances actively employed in physical and mental health treatments. This reclassification would mark a significant move away from classifying marijuana as having no accepted medical use.
“Schedule III drugs are classified as having a potential for abuse less than the drugs or other substances in schedules I and II, a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and moderate or low physical dependence or high psychological dependence that may result from their use. NIDA [National Institute on Drug Abuse] concurs with this recommendation,” the documents released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reads.
Weed Isn’t the Only Drug Musk Uses
Musk, according to unnamed sources who witnessed him taking the drug or were told by the tech billionaire himself, reportedly uses ketamine in small doses to manage depression and at higher doses during social events, the Wall Street Journal reported.
While Ketamine is a mental health treatment drug that is currently experiencing its own “Wild West” crisis right now, the FDA believes that the reclassification of marijuana could be beneficial to Americans based on scientific and medical evaluations and the recent document released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
While the cannabis industry flourishes across the U.S., with the market valued at $13.2 billion in 2022 (via Grand View Research), we will wait to see if the DEA will act on this recommendation to usher in new laws around cannabis.
