Billionaire concerned over Elon Musk’s alleged drug use, report states

Mr Ellison, a Tesla board member, reached out to the Tesla boss in the winter of 2022 as concerns grew from others on the board about Musk’s behaviour, the Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend.

Mr Musk, whose portfolio of companies includes SpaceX and the social media platform X, has acknowledged using ketamine to treat depression, reports the New York Post.

But he also has reportedly popped recreational drugs such as LSD and ecstasy with members of Tesla’s board, including venture capitalists Steve Jurvetson and Antonio Gracias.

Mr Jurvetson and Mr Gracias are among eight members of the board who have personal relationships with Mr Musk and have amassed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of shares — which is significantly more than directors at other publicly traded companies.

Mr Musk has created a culture around him in which friends and board members are expected to consume drugs with him out of fear that not doing so would upset the CEO, according to The Journal.

The Post has sought comment from Mr Ellison, Mr Musk and Tesla’s board.

Mr Ellison, who owns most of the Hawaiian island of Lana’i, has hosted Mr Musk, his “very close friend”, on numerous occasions, the Journal reported.

At around the time that Mr Ellison extended his invite to Mr Musk, he attended a party in Hollywood Hills where he consumed a liquid form of ecstasy from a water bottle, according to the Journal.

Before Mr Musk took the drug, his personal bodyguards allegedly asked people to leave the floor of the house for privacy.

Mr Musk has also attended drug-fuelled parties with his brother Kimbal, another Tesla board member, at Hotel El Ganzo in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, the Journal reported.

Last month, the Journal reported that Mr Musk was known to use cocaine, ecstasy, LSD and magic mushrooms.

In response, Mr Musk wrote on X: “Not even trace quantities were found of any drugs or alcohol. @WSJ is not fit to line a parrot cage for bird [poop emoji].”

He later wrote: “If drugs actually helped improve my net productivity over time, I would definitely take them!”

In 2018, Mr Musk smoked marijuana while being interviewed on Joe Rogan’s podcast — prompting the federal government to subject him to random drug testing due to the requirements of SpaceX being a NASA contractor.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission.