Elon Musk Was Reportedly on Drugs While Campaigning for Donald Trump

Although Elon Musk has made it clear that he's no longer working in the Trump administration, his time in the administration has continued to come under scrutiny. A recent report from The New York Times suggests that he was taking much more than occasional hits of ketamine.

Following these revelations, many want to know more about Musk's drug use during his time in the White House, and whether that drug use is connected to his occasionally erratic behavior. Here's what we know.

According to the report, Musk told people that he was taking so much ketamine that it was affecting his bladder, which is a known effect associated with chronic use. He also took Ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms, and traveled with a daily medication box that held about 20 pills, including what appeared to be Adderall.

Musk had previously admitted to taking ketamine once every two weeks for depression but said that he "doesn't like" taking illegal drugs.

In speaking with Don Lemon, Musk explained that he only takes small doses of ketamine in part because taking too much makes it difficult to get work done. More recently, though, the Times reports that those close to Musk say he was using ketamine almost daily, and that the line between recreational use and medical use had started to blur. Ketamine is only approved by the FDA for use as an anesthetic.

Some doctors with special licenses, though, are allowed to prescribe the drug for psychiatric disorders even though there are real risks of overdose. Chronic use can also lead to addiction.

These reports come largely from the months prior to the election, and they further say that it's unclear whether Musk was using these drugs regularly while he was working in the White House.

Reports of his drug use coincide with an unusual period in Musk's private life in which he got intensely involved in politics, and also came under increased scrutiny as a result. Among those behaviors are an increase in constant posting on social media, including at all hours of the night, and one public event where he wielded a chainsaw onstage while wearing sunglasses indoors.

Given the reporting about his drug use, some have linked the behavior to the result, but we don't know whether Musk's strange behaviors have anything to do with the drugs he was on at the time. What's clear, though, is that Musk was using drugs regularly around the same time he was hugely influential over the decisions that the Trump administration was making.

Musk might not believe that his judgment was impaired by the drug use, and it's impossible to say whether he would have made the same decisions either way. What seems abundantly clear, though, is that Musk's time in the White House was tumultuous, and now, we may know one of the reasons why.