Why is it that prescription ketamine is more carefully administered than the abortion pill? For those fearful of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the answer is obvious: Thoughtcrime is worse than physical crime, at least in the political realm.
This makes sense in that the paramount aspect of leftist political activity right now is the exposure of Musk “the oligarch.” Given his closeness to President Donald Trump, as something of an adviser and resource, Musk’s influence is a fair thing to question. He is morally negligent (or worse) when it comes to family, and he has an erratic record of political alignment. On top of that, Musk is a known drug user. This last point is the newest line of attack the Left is pursuing to discredit his involvement with the administration.
“What ketamine does to the human brain” is a consideration posed to readers of the Atlantic. Suggestions of Musk’s “impaired memory, delusional thinking, superstitious beliefs, and a sense of specialness and importance,” allege that he is rash or untrustworthy and hinge on the fact of his ketamine use. That fact traces back to a Wall Street Journal piece substantiating Musk’s recreational drug use and the corporate scrutiny around it.
Reading it at the time of publishing, the Wall Street Journal piece was entirely believable. Musk then was to the general reader an odd but whip-smart innovator obsessed with life on Mars. He had been dabbling in politics for some time, especially after buying Twitter in 2022. But he didn’t endorse Trump’s campaign until July of 2024. His drug use was, and still is, a plain aspect of his life — troubling, but not exactly imminent.
One would expect it to be even less of a blemish to the eye of a leftist. Reading accounts now — such as the Atlantic piece — that come down hard on ketamine’s dangers and emphasize that the FDA-approved version is intended to be applied “in a certified medical setting by a health-care professional,” it is hard not to assume ulterior concern. Drug use is part of a liberated society, the fabric of which certainly does not hold ketamine as inherently evil.
Part of how ketamine works is by blocking neurotransmitter receptors. It stops certain pathways of communication to the brain. The rest of its mechanism is broadly unknown; it just works, some say. Compare it to mifepristone, the first part of the abortion pill, which works by blocking the progesterone hormone so that the baby is starved of nutrients. Both drugs are considered “receptor antagonists,” but they antagonize different parts of the body: Hormones affect the bloodstream, while neurotransmitters are active in the nervous system. The main scientific difference is their “site of release.”
Socially, though, the real difference between the drugs is the site of control. Most of ketamine’s consequences are intellectual, while mifepristone’s are entirely bodily. Regulating the abortion pill would mean recognizing the political implications that come with it. Doing so for ketamine, or judging its use by people like Musk, endeavors for the same sort of political recognition, except this time it’s favorable for Democrats.
DEMOCRATS’ DANGEROUS DEMONIZATION OF MUSK
That consequence — of ketamine’s overall negative relationship with society — is founded entirely in a politically motivated ethics. The Left does not care about drug “safety” if the stakes are sexual freedom, as evidenced by the abortion pill. And as for the harm ketamine does to the brain, especially that of a young person: New York magazine has the “Are u Coming?” newsletter “all about nightlife.”
It is an unfortunate reality that speculation into Musk’s drug use now comes off as disposable rhetoric. This is what happens when moral relevance takes shape in the context of political control, and not in reference to human nature. Musk the person is nothing of concern for the ketamine-suspicious Democrat, not until democracy is shattering. Likewise, the social order looks a lot more inviolable than life itself — but that’s not a good thing.
