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What Ketamine Does to the Human Brain | Excessive use of the drug can make anyone feel like they rule the world. (www.theatlantic.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

96 comments fedilink hide all child comments

It's Musk’s drug of choice

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[–] [email protected] 163 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

Last year, Musk told CNN’s Don Lemon that he has a ketamine prescription and uses the drug roughly every other week to help with depression symptoms. When Lemon asked if Musk ever abused ketamine, Musk replied, “I don’t think so. If you use too much ketamine you can’t really get work done,” then said that investors in his companies should want him to keep up his drug regimen.

I'm not completely sure what the criteria is for "abusing" ketamine, but since Musk seems to know what happens when you use too much ketamine, it seems to me like he's probably abused it at some point.

[–] [email protected] 72 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Even if someone wants to be completely charitable, and I'm not inclined to do so, there exists a possibility that his dose is too high. How would he know? It could, therefore, produce the same effects as overuse/abuse.

It's a little far-fetched to be that charitable, however, and I think it's more likely he just abuses and tries to hide it. He has billions of dollars and exists in a separate tier of law. Getting a supply of ketamine is probably trivially easy.

[–] [email protected] 108 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Musk got his dealer a government job in DOGE:

At least 10 DOGE staffers identified by The Post are engineers. Among them is Alexandra Beynon, 36, according to Education Department records seen by The Post and an official with knowledge of the matter. Beynon previously was head of engineering at Mindbloom, a company started by her husband, Dylan Beynon, that “offers guided at-home ketamine therapy to transform your mental health.”

[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 weeks ago

Meritocracy through and through

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 weeks ago

Yikes!

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 weeks ago

Thinking investors would want him to keep using is addict justification logic.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I hate musk hard but I mean you could learn what happens when you abuse ketamine with a quick Google search and not even have touched a drug in your life.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The effect that Musk mentioned was, "you can't really get work done," which feels less like "Google search" and more like "personal experience." And I said that "it seems to me like he’s probably abused it at some point," which feels like the right sort of certainty for this sort of conclusion from that evidence.

I wasn't surprised when reading the rest of the comments in this comment section that somebody mentioned that he's been known to use ketamine recreationally.

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[–] [email protected] 141 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/03/07/518986612/author-says-hitler-was-blitzed-on-cocaine-and-opiates-during-the-war

Fuckin' nazis. Nothing changes.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

My problem with Hollywood's depictions of Nazis is that they far too often show them as competent and efficient. They handed out advancements based on the shape of faces...

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Turns out a lot of people are competent if given a chance. I'd argue that means we should give different kinds of people that chance.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 weeks ago

Modern media spin would say Hitler's just really pumped to see his country compete in the Olympics. He can barely contain his masculine vigor, like any true patriot. 🇺🇲🏈🥇

[–] [email protected] 77 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Remember kids: every time Elon does a hit of ketamine, a horse goes into surgery completely alert.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

And that horse is then given to an air hostess that was securely assaulted by Musk.

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[–] [email protected] 76 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

John Lilly, a neurophysiologist and psychedelic researcher who once used LSD to investigate dolphin communication, famously abused ketamine until he believed that he was contacted by an extraterrestrial entity who removed his penis.

I see, that's where dandadan got its plot ideas from

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This statement from the article is a bit misleading. Lilly had this hallucination during a ketamine trip after injecting 150mg. The article makes it sound like a persistent delusion arising from daily use. Lilly abused ketamine for sure, but he didn't lose his mind. He was a guy who seemed to have strange ideas his whole life. https://www.intuition.org/txt/lilly.htm

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 weeks ago

Adding to this because I feel a bit annoyed at how John C Lilly gets so badly represented sometimes. He wasn't a nut job. He was a weird guy with a very unique personality. He had an intense passion for knowledge and scientific inquiry. He also had a massive ego. But he was a reasonably self reflective person. Read his books and watch interviews with him. He wasn't just a hedonist who got addicted to K. He always had a very non typical experience of reality. He had hallucinations of angels as a child, partly due to a heavily religious upbringing. It's totally understandable that he was primed for strange trips when he got into psychedelics. But he was able to function as a professional. He had multiple government funded research projects during his career, medical credentials, and owned electrical engineering patents. His characterisation as a kook is very similar to the crap that people say about Tim Leary, who had a successful academic career before being kicked out of Harvard and was actually a very rational person.

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[–] [email protected] 64 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

In 2018, for example, he took multiple tabs of acid at a party he hosted in Los Angeles. The next year he partied on magic mushrooms at an event in Mexico. In 2021, he took ketamine recreationally with his brother, Kimbal Musk, in Miami at a house party during Art Basel. He has taken illegal drugs with current SpaceX and former Tesla board member Steve Jurvetson.

People close to Musk, who is now 52, said his drug use is ongoing, especially his consumption of ketamine, and that they are concerned it could cause a health crisis. Even if it doesn’t, it could damage his businesses.

WSJ report archived

[–] RamblingPanda 26 points 2 weeks ago

and that they are concerned it could cause a health crisis.

The word is hoping. Concerned means you fear that it might happen. Stupid people close to Musk, don't even know English.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

So when will the courts treat him as they would a black man with the same substance abuse problems

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I don't know about psychedelics like LSD. You'd think that shit would kill his ego, but it hasn't.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago

Those years were around the time he was very pro-LGBT and human rights. Seems like he stopped taking the "we're all connected" drugs and started taking the "I'm amazing and better than everyone" drugs.

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[–] [email protected] 56 points 2 weeks ago

Wait, you mean persistent drug abuse can lead to a state of psychosis where people act impulsively, have delusions of grandeur, and have no regard for how their actions impact others?

Surely there aren't any other historical figures we can compare this to.

[–] [email protected] 46 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Perhaps farming some fresh, organic produce would help him.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Is this a reference to making drug addicts work the farms after deporting all of the immigrant farm workers?

[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

yes. which is the plan outlined by RFK

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I'd just like to note here that RFK's definition of addicts includes people on antidepressants and ADHD medication.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

and antipsychotics

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago

Perhaps he'd like some warm, raw milk to wash it down.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 2 weeks ago

What are the long term effects of having a child with a father who’s a nazi and a ketamine addict? Asking for a South African…

[–] [email protected] 40 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (15 children)

Ketamine does not have this effect at all. It doesn't even directly work on the receptors that would invoke such behavior. Half of the stuff in the article is cherry picked to suit a narrative. It doesn't even include the effect of thinking one can rule the world outside of the clickbait title. And LMAO at pointing out the ketamine delusions of a nutjob who previously tried to use LSD to communicate with dolphins, that was a new one.

(Source: I have been a ketamine user for 15 years with no problems, and I hosted government approved drug education for a while)

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Ketamine: from saving lives in surgeries to inflating egos in boardrooms—what a career pivot. Informative and well-researched yet slightly alarmist.

🐱🐱🐱🐱

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 weeks ago

Once had a boss that used K several times a week. The article sounds like it was written about him.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Can we send him away and bring back Matthew Perry?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 weeks ago

Hot Tub Time Machine 3 practically writes itself.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Wonder who is feeding him the drug(s).

[–] [email protected] 40 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

He's the richest man on earth. He probably has people moving product just for his consumption and distribution. There's no way all he uses is K. People at the billionaire level probably take drugs plebians have never heard of.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 2 weeks ago

But I was told they all wake up at 4am for their 15 mile morning jog before a carefully balanced breakfast of a protein supplement and ancient grains. How could they take drugs?? The billionaire body is a sacred temple!

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Judging by the chest, he's also taking HGH.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

wait is this a thing for real? I've never heard of hgh but that chest looks somehow more inhuman than zuck's face

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

That's the theory going around. Human growth hormone is considered a "youth drug" by some and makes your organs keep growing. He didn't always have that chest.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

So if I understand biology correct isn't he at risk for massive organ failure due to circulation issues and from them just getting too big to function. I can only hope the Allfather strikes him down for his huboristic abuse of medicine.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Shhhhhh! Dont speak about Musks Special K addiction. Rules for thee, not for me.

https://www.nbcnews.com/video/sen-kennedy-accuses-hearing-witness-of-ketamine-use-233563717506

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

He is a danger to us all, man with that much money and completely insane by drug abuse. What if he decides nuclear war would be fun to watch? He is already in control of a country with most nukes in the world so it wouldnt be that hard to arrange. Wouldnt surprise me if he thought he could also stop it if he wanted or control everything about it.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Hitler was an addict too

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I don't think Musk needs any drugs to feel like he rules the world. His wealth does that plenty.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 weeks ago

He is very openly taking ketamine though. So it may not just be wealth

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

I think being the richest man in the world probably has more to do with it.

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