Elon Musk, depression and South Africa's cowboy ketamine clinics
'To be clear, I am NOT taking drugs!' the richest man in the world
The New York Times
was lying their ass off.'
Elon Musk — originally from South Africa and until recently the head of the Trump administration's so-called
'I tried prescription ketamine a few years ago and said so on X, so this [is] not even news. It helps for getting out of dark mental holes, but I haven't taken it since then,' he told
The New York Times.
Musk also
In South Africa, treatment-resistant depression is
Musk has openly talked about
Because ketamine causes temporary '
These psychedelic effects, and the fact that ketamine can make people feel happier, are part of the reason why ketamine is also used as a street drug, often known as 'Vitamin K' or 'Special K'.
Musk told The Don Lemon Show that '
In South Africa,
In 2022, ketamine
Bhekisisa
the spray isn't available in the country. Some healthcare providers in South Africa are also administering the drug
In the case of ketamine, the South African Society of Psychiatrists (Sasop) has
But
Bhekisisa's
TV programme,
Health Beat
,
Sahpra's chief executive, Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela,
Experts say unregulated use of ketamine is not only risky — it can be deadly,
In an autopsy, authorities in Los Angeles found that
Friends
actor Matthew Perry, who played the character Chandler Bing and wrote about his
Mia Malan recently spoke to psychiatrist Bavi Vythilingum, a member of the
Bhekisisa
's May episode of
Mia Malan (MM):
Why are psychiatrists talking about ketamine right now?
Bavi Vythilingum (BV):
It's probably
MM:
Why does it work so fast?
BV:
We're not 100% sure, but we think that it's because it's
MM:
What is a
BV:
Glutamate is a brain neurotransmitter like serotonin and noradrenaline. Glutamate is situated throughout the brain and ketamine works on that receptor.
MM
: So it's something that helps you to feel good?
BV
: If you're taking ketamine, for example, for drug use, it would produce an altered state of consciousness, which can make you feel good, but can also be unpleasant. But certainly, for depression,
MM:
So who gets ketamine? Is it people who need to be helped immediately, and then you wean them off it? Or how does it work?
BV:
So there are two groups of people who would get ketamine: people who are
MM:
And if you then put such a patient on ketamine, explain to us what happens.
BV:
Most people who have ketamine will have what we call a
MM:
And for how long would that last?
BV:
For as long as we give the infusion. So usually about 40 minutes. Then they go home and they come back after two to three days for a total of about six infusions.
MM:
And what happens after that?
BV:
There's no
MM:
What about addiction?
BV:
We have to assess somebody very carefully for previous substance use and current substance use. So if somebody is an active substance user, even if they're not using ketamine — say they're an alcoholic — you'd be very cautious about giving ketamine.
MM:
Who can give ketamine? We have heard of many clinics that give it where it's not psychiatrists giving it, where a GP gives infusions. Is that legal?
BV:
It is technically not illegal, because any doctor can give any medication. That's a
MM:
What does ketamine treatment cost? And do medical aids pay for it?
BV:
You're looking at about R2 400 to R2 500 per infusion. The big cost of that is around personnel because you need an anaesthetically trained doctor and a nurse.
MM:
Do medical aids pay?
BV:
Medical aids are starting to pay. So your top-tier medical aids will pay for ketamine upon motivation, but the medical aids are reluctant to pay. And a big cause of the reluctance is all these so-called cowboy ketamine clinics. The medical aids are saying, quite rightly, that they don't know if ketamine is going to be given safely.
This interview appeared in a recent episode of
Bhekisisa
's monthly TV programme,
.
This story was produced by the
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