What Ketamine Does to the Human Brain

[Nevilledog]

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/03/ketamine-effects-elon-musk/681911/

No paywall link
https://archive.li/tHRvs

Last month, during Elon Musk’s appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, as he hoisted a chain saw in the air, stumbled over some of his words, and questioned whether there was really gold stored in Fort Knox, people on his social-media platform, X, started posting about ketamine.
Musk has said he uses ketamine regularly, so for the past couple of years, public speculation has persisted about how much he takes, whether he’s currently high, or how it might affect his behavior.

Last year, Musk told CNN’s Don Lemon that he has a ketamine prescription and uses the drug roughly every other week to help with depression symptoms. When Lemon asked if Musk ever abused ketamine, Musk replied, “I don’t think so. If you use too much ketamine you can’t really get work done,” then said that investors in his companies should want him to keep up his drug regimen. Not everyone is convinced. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Musk also takes the drug recreationally, and in 2023, Ronan Farrow reported in The New Yorker that Musk’s “associates” worried that ketamine, “alongside his isolation and his increasingly embattled relationship with the press, might contribute to his tendency to make chaotic and impulsive statements and decisions.” (Musk did not respond to my requests for comment. In a post on X responding to The New Yorker’s story, Musk wrote, “Tragic that Ronan Farrow is a puppet of the establishment and against the people.”)

Ketamine is called a dissociative drug because during a high, which lasts about an hour, people might feel detached from their body, their emotions, or the passage of time. Frequent, heavy recreational use—say, several times a week—has been linked to cognitive effects that last beyond the high, including impaired memory, delusional thinking, superstitious beliefs, and a sense of specialness and importance. You can see why people might wonder about ketamine use from a man who is trying to usher in multi-planetary human life, who has barged into global politics and is attempting to reengineer the U.S. government. With Musk’s new political power, his cognitive and psychological health is of concern not only to shareholders of his companies’ stocks but to all Americans. His late-night posts on X, mass emails to federal employees, and non sequiturs uttered on television have prompted even more questions about his drug use.

Ketamine’s great strength has always been its ability to sever humans from the world around them. It was first approved as an anesthetic in 1970, because it could make people lose consciousness without affecting the quality of their breathing. In the 1990s, as a street drug known as Special K, ketamine took ravers to euphoric states. Then, in the 2000s, researchers found that doses of ketamine that didn’t put people to sleep could rapidly reduce symptoms of depression, because, the thinking went, the drug altered the physical circuitry of the brain. In 2019, the FDA approved a nasal spray containing a form of ketamine called esketamine (sold under the brand name Spravato) for patients with depression who hadn’t responded to other treatments. Spravato came with a list of rules for how the drug should be administered: in a certified medical setting by a health-care professional, and with limited dosage amounts determined by how long a person has been in treatment.

*snip*

[multigraincracker]

1. Self medicating for depression and in denial.

Rehab and long term psychiatric treatment are his best hope. I don’t think he would do that voluntarily and would need be ordered to by a judge. That usually happens in the later stages of addiction.
Hope he gets the help he needs before he can cause anymore damage to himself and others.

[Ilsa]

2. I would be perfectly fine with fElon using as much

as he wants if it will cause him to publicly lose touch with reality and be hauled away to a special "retreat". It might be the only way to rid ourselves of him.

[ultralite001]

3. Can't we find someone in Texas...

to file to have him involuntarily committed???

or Florida (if that's where he's supposedly residing)... or DC (if he's still sleeping in his DoGE office)...

Surely we find cause that he poses substantial + imminent risk of serious harm to himself or others.....

[FirstLight]

4. I wish...

😒 he needs to go... somewhere else.

[oasis]

5. Doped up Musk is running the country!

The Ketamine Kid

[Bristlecone]

6. The description of symptoms sounds like Tr*mp thinking also

Maybe that’s why they seem to get along, they pass the nasal spray

[MrSkunkB]

8. Trump isn't on Ketamine.

I think it’s obvious he uses over the counter abd prescription drugs as stimulants. But I think he’s a high school level drug user at best.

[Hekate]

9. There's a long, long trail of people forced to sign NDAs who've spoken behind the scenes...

Yes, they are anonymous sources (trump’s very vengeful, in case you haven’t noticed) — but stories from The Apprentice are remarkably similar. Snorts crushed Adderall. Has bowel incontinence (a side effect of overuse) — made other people clean him up.

High school level? I don’t think so.

[MrSkunkB]

10. Snorting Adderall is as high school as it gets

You buy it off the ADD kids.

Frankly, it’s a shitty high. People that do uppers scare me.

[MrSkunkB]

7. Can we be careful here?

I have friends who have had their lives saved by ketamine. I think we should be cautious in vilifying it.

I also think Musk is on a crazy ass cocktail of drugs including - but not limited to - Ketamine.

I assume he sleeps at some point and can only imagine what kind of downers he’s using for that.

[Hekate]

11. Musk deserves vilification -- he's wrecking our country & needs to be stopped. I've read all kinds of...

…excuses for his behavior here: bipolar, autistic, drugs. You know what? I’ve known people on the spectrum, I’ve known people who are bipolar, and I’ve known people who’ve used drugs.

But none of them, not one, has thought he was a godlike being that was entitled to bring down a government and dance in the rubble and flames.

[MrSkunkB]

12. Agreed

Also, ketamine seems to really help people with depression.

[Hekate]

14. I also know people with chronic depression, am related to a bunch of them, & they just take meds...

…and do their best to get on with life regardless of the pain. Okay? Would be nice if someone could wave a magic wand and make the dragging pain go away.

But Musk? Whatever the hell is wrong with his brain and his soul — no excuses left. At this point both he and his co-president belong in prison.

[ananda]

15. I think it's OK to vilify the WAY Musk uses it.

IOW, wrongly and badly in a way that is making
him crazy and living out a fantasy of power and
goals that is utterly insane.

[crimycarny]

24. I took it as vilifying Musks abuse of Ketamine, not Ketamine itself

I get what you are saying, but I felt the article's focus was on Elon's (alleged) abuse of ketamine, not Ketamine itself.

If anything, I'm angry at some rich idiot like Elon being able to abuse Ketamine and thus he gives Ketamine a bad name.

[MrSkunkB]

25. The article is behind a pay wall

But I read the two very long paragraphs on what Keyamine does.

People are reactive. There’s a post above this that seems to encourage destruction of EV charging stations became Musk bad.

[Nevilledog]

29. I always include a no paywall link. It's right there in the OP.

[Self Esteem]

26. I'm sure your friends don't abuse it.

It's no different than fentanyl. It's used medically all the time - but abused it's absolutely dangerous. If you point that out, you're not demonizing people who use it responsibly. It's clear Elon isn't with ketamine.

[Crunchy Frog]

28. It also killed Elijah McClain.

A young black man who was stopped by cops, brutalized, and then shot up with the stuff by paramedics.
https://apnews.com/article/elijah-mcclain-death-officers-trial-acef1eabe02b458f53d30d8fe3bf76a4

It was given to my mother a few years ago during dental surgery, after she'd been told they'd be giving her something else. It really messed with her and left her traumatized.

I have treatment resistant depression myself, and I'm glad that some people feel they've been helped by it, but I wouldn't touch it myself.

It's not as benign as many people think it is, even when used in a medical setting.

[Cne99999]

13. Effects of dissociative drugs:

Effects of dissociative drugs:

Distorted perception of reality (hallucinations, illusions)
Altered body sensations (numbness, tingling)
Emotional detachment and numbness
Confusion and difficulty thinking clearly
Impaired coordination and movement
Memory loss and blackouts
Increased heart rate and blood pressure
Seizures (in high doses)

[Bluethroughu]

16. Do not use heavy machinery.

And he is taking a wrecking ball to our government.

Where are the Patriots to arrest the traitor on drugs, committing identity theft, and illegal money movements is wire fraud.

[Nasruddin]

17. Got that depression licked

Sure seems like he’s got that depression licked. Maybe somebody could persuade him to put down the inhaler for a minute.

[JoseBalow]

18. Special-K is fun up to a point, but it can knock you out like a zombie if you take too much

They call that falling into the K-Hole.

I prefer blotter acid to K any day, given a choice. Just don't do either every day.

[usaf-vet]

19. So with something that powerful. Why is it the I have to so my ID anytime I pickup my meds. In a drug store that......

....... I have been a regular customer for more than twenty years. I take one drug that is for pain, and I have taken it for years for back pain caused by a 6-foot fall from a ladder. I take it as prescribed three times a day. I also get heart and diabetes meds.

Yet another set of laws/rules for the rich and powerful and for the rest of us a different set. US that keep everyday communities running.

Ketamine
Then, in the 2000s, researchers found that doses of ketamine that didn’t put people to sleep could rapidly reduce symptoms of depression, because, the thinking went, the drug altered the physical circuitry of the brain. In 2019, the FDA approved a nasal spray containing a form of ketamine called esketamine (sold under the brand name Spravato) for patients with depression who hadn’t responded to other treatments. Spravato came with a list of rules for how the drug should be administered: in a certified medical setting by a health-care professional, and with limited dosage amounts determined by how long a person has been in treatment.

[MrSkunkB]

22. I mean, I had friends who could get thousands of Ocy

I imagine the richest man in the planet can get some shit. He likely has doctors in weird principalities we’ve never heard of.

[GoCubsGo]

20. How much of that is drugs, and how much of it is being a silver-spoon asshole

who was born into wealth and privilege, and raised by hateful, apartheid-loving parents? That would sure explain the whole "sense of specialness and importance" thing. How much of his behavior is just due to having grown up a spoiled, rich prick and sociopath?

[SunSeeker]

21. Sounds like he's been spritzing way too much Spravato up his nose. nt

[Morbius]

23. Ketamine isn't the bad thing here.

Using Ketamine recreationally, while unwise, is also not the bad thing here.

The bad thing is the intersection of risky recreational drug use and political power which can affect - or even end - the lives of millions of people. If Musk wants to get stoned, that's fine by me, but it's just another reason he shouldn't be anywhere near our government.

[ReRe]

27. How much you want to bet

he doesn't have those kids working for him on drugs too? Oh, Elon is on drugs alright. I read where he said he worked 120 hours a week (17 hours a day). One would have to be on drugs to work that many hours. OK, we all know Elon doesn't know what real work is, and probably has never worked a day in his fucking life. What exactly DOES Elon do? We don't know!
Uppers and downers. Uppers and downers. Day after day. When is he going to crash the fuck out??
What keeps him alive, for God's sake?

A drug addict is tearing down our government because in his eyes, it looks like a giant overblown wasteful Corporation.
If that isn't a perfect example of grandiosity, I don't know what is (unless it's djt & jdv themsaelves
their Republican partners in crime in Congress and on the Supreme Court)!