Elon Musk is on ketamine? What is it and how does it affect the body?
Image credits: Getty Images
No matter how controversial his actions may be, Elon Musk is one man who has made a name for himself. From technology to politics, Musk has taken a deep dive into reigning fields in order to expand his forte and empire.
The 53-year-old is the owner of Tesla, X and SpaceX and has even tried his hands at politics by donating a whopping $275 million to Trump's campaign and heading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). For someone to be able to do so much simultaneously would either require some superhuman powers or their diet needs to have something that fuels them from the inside.
For Elon Musk, his diet includes a string of drugs like ketamine and psychedelic stimulants that have kept him running from one office to another in his Tesla.
What is ketamine and how does it affect the body? Let's take a closer look.
Musk once said he took ketamine every two weeks for depression as prescribed by his doctor. One would think a drug prescribed for depression would have positive and healing effects, right? Not really.
Recently, the New York Times reported that during the 2024 presidential campaign, Musk was taking so much ketamine, sometimes daily, that he told people it was causing him bladder problems, which is a known symptom of excessive ketamine use.
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How many Americans use ketamine?
Image credits: Getty Images
Musk is not alone, as of 2015, 3 million Americans aged 12 or older have used ketamine in their lifetime. A recent
study
analysing the data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) found that past-year recreational ketamine use among adults has increased dramatically since 2015.
From 2015 to 2019 ketamine use increased by 81.8% and from 2021 to 2022 it increased by 40%. While during the former years, the use was among adults with depression, in the latter years it was more among those without depression.
One interesting point made in this study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, people were more likely to use ketamine if they used other substances such as ecstasy/MDMA, GHB and cocaine, one of which even Musk used.
What is Ketamine?
Image credits: Getty Images
Ketamine, both an anesthetic and a hallucinogen was first synthesized in the 1960s and has been a part of surgery and veterinary medicine for a long time. A
study
published in the National Library of Medicine stated that ketamine showed significant improvement in depression and anxiety symptoms immediately one hour after a single dose.
Clinics administering the drug which must be licensed by the government to provide intravenous infusions are becoming popular. The FDA approved the first ketamine-derived nasal spray for depression in 2019.
'There is absolutely a role for ketamine to help people with depression and suicidal ideation,' said Dr. Kevin Yang, a resident physician in psychiatry at the University of California-San Diego.
How does Ketamine affect the body?
Image credits: Getty Images
'At the same time, that doesn't mean it's going to be safe and effective for everyone,' added Yang.
He was the co-author of the study mentioned above which stated that in the past year, the percentage of Americans using ketamine grew by 82%. The people are driven by both medical and recreational reasons.
Ketamine drug seizures nationwide increased from 55 in 2017 to 247 in 2022, according to a 2023
study
led by Joseph Palamar at New York University.
The drug has been edging into the mainstream with more and more reports on its efficacy in treating depression.
This has led to an increase in its market where companies like Johnson & Johnson developed its own ketamine-derived treatment for depression which received FDA approval in 2019. Not only nasal spray, people can visit clinics to get an IV of conventional ketamine for treatment for which the clinics have increased from 60 in 2015 to 1,200 and 1,500 today.
But it's not sunny with ketamine. Outside of a clinical setting, it is usually consumed as a pill or powder, either snorted or mixed with a drink. A recent
survey
found that more than half of patients who tried to take the drug at home for depression either intentionally or accidentally took more than the prescribed amount.
Over time, you can also end up building a tolerance to the high dosage and thus keep on increasing them to feel better effects.
Scientists have found that people who use ketamine can develop a dependency on it, especially with frequent and high-dosage use. They become irritable or anxious without the drug and experience other withdrawal symptoms.
Additionally, while the purity of clinical ketamine is ensured the same can not be said for the illicit sources sold ketamine which according to Dr.
Nabarun Dasgupta, who oversees the University of North Carolina's Street Drug Analysis Lab, has seen a recent rise in samples where ketamine is combined with other substances.
Short-term overuse of the drug can lead to nausea, high blood pressure, and hallucination, whereas long-term use can lead to problems in a person's bladder and urinary tract.
Rather than experimenting with the drug on your own or using it for recreational purposes, think of your health and safety and consult a medical expert if you need medical help.
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