Drug claims overshadow Elon Musk’s farewell with Trump in the Oval Office
A news report says the tech billionaire used so much ketamine on the 2024 campaign trail that he developed bladder problems
Elon Musk faced accusations on Friday that he used so much ketamine on the 2024 campaign trail that he developed bladder problems, as the billionaire gave a farewell press conference with US President Donald Trump.
A New York Times report that Musk’s drug use had caused concerns was published just hours before he appeared with Trump in the White House on his last day as the US government’s cost cutter-in-chief.
The newspaper said the world’s richest man also took Ecstasy and mushrooms and travelled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).
The South African-born tech tycoon, the biggest donor to Trump’s 2024 election campaign, told people that ketamine, an anaesthetic that can cause dissociation, had affected his bladder, the Times added, noting that it was a known effect of long-term use.
Space X and Tesla boss Musk did not immediately comment, but the White House played down the report. Asked if he was concerned about alleged drug use by Musk, Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told reporters: “The drugs that we’re concerned about are the drugs running across the southern border.”
Musk has previously admitted to taking ketamine, saying he was prescribed it to treat a “negative frame of mind” and suggesting his use of drugs benefited his work.