On Thursday September 6th, 2018, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk joined Joe Rogan on his wildly popular long-form podcast. The duo touched on many intriguing topics including tunnels under Los Angeles, Tesla’s future, and Musk’s outlook on artificial intelligence. Though the multiple hour podcast revealed much of Musk that we did not yet know, many are not focusing on the interview itself. They instead are focusing on a short segment of the podcast where Musk and Rogan share a cannabis blunt. Consuming cannabis is legal in California, where the podcast was recorded, but the general media reaction would lead you to believe otherwise.
Stereotype Surrounding Cannabis Consumption
Though cannabis is legal in California, and throughout most of America, there is still a stigma attached to those who choose to consume it. The day after Musk took one single puff off of a blunt, Tesla stock fell 6% (though likely unaffected by Musk’s actions on the podcast) and media outlets had a field day. One headline read “Tesla Stock falls as CEO Elon Musk appears to smoke marijuana on video” and others questioned whether Musk was even fit to run Tesla anymore.
The blatant hypocrisy displayed by the media following the video of Musk smoking is evident. While many in the media profit off of posts celebrating the legalization of cannabis when and wherever it occurs, they also often write posts degrading individuals who are open about their use.
Musk in particular stated during the podcast that he does not “regularly” use cannabis. Despite this, traditional media outlets would have you believe that Musk is a lazy and unaccomplished “stoner.” The portrayal in the media of Musk after smoking couldn’t be further from the truth as he is most well known for being the CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX, as well as new tunnel-digging start up, The Boring Company.
Don’t Expect Opinions to Change
Though Musk has been rather hush about his cannabis experience, his actions speak louder than any words he could use. Musk announced on his and Rogan’s podcast that he would be introducing a new company, Neuralink, very soon. The company would likely have something to do with the linking of the human brain with artificial intelligence. For a man as far stretched as Musk, another business venture further serves to disprove the lazy label that is often prescribed to cannabis users.
