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Elon Musk smoked weed on air, so why is drug testing for CEOs almost unheard of

phenethylo J

phenethylo J

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In a video recording of podcast ?The Joe Rogan Experience? this week, Tesla TSLA, -6.30% chief executive officer Elon Musk appears to smoke marijuana. Host Joe Rogan asked Musk, ?You probably can?t [smoke that] because of stockholders, right?? The answer is complicated.

Like many companies, Tesla reportedly drug tests employees who operate machinery in the factories that build its electric cars, according to forums on job site Indeed. As marijuana is legalized in more states, some employers have discussed eliminating the cannabis test and only looking for use of harder drugs, but many continue to do so for employees.

Should executives who operate $57 billion companies be subjected to the same restrictions?

Musk referenced this legal issue in the podcast before hitting the joint, saying, ?I mean it?s legal, right?? and Rogan replies, ?It?s totally legal.? Rogan and Musk are based in California, which this year became the largest U.S. state to legalize the recreational use of weed. (Tesla did not respond to requests for comment).

?I feel the journey to the C-Suite is rigorous enough to weed any such irregularities out.?
Vishal Agarwal, author of ?Give to Get: A Senior Leader?s Guide to Navigating Corporate Life?
Last year, states that had not legalized marijuana tested for that substance in 98% of employee blood samples, according to Sample and Quest Diagnostics, a Madison, N.J.-based company that provides national clinical laboratory tests on potential and/or current employees. In Colorado, which legalized marijuana in 2014, 96% of tests including marijuana.
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For C-suite executives, it?s a different story. Drug testing of executives remains rare, according to Vishal Agarwal, author of ?Give to Get: A Senior Leader?s Guide to Navigating Corporate Life,? and former managing director of development and investments for General Electric Africa GE, -0.88% He said drug testing outside the U.S. is very uncommon and in most countries it is unheard of in a white-collar environment.

Drug testing is most commonly carried out on blue-collar workforces, including on the floors of factories, he said. ?I have never heard of [drug testing an executive] in my 25-year global experience,? he said. ?I feel the journey to the C-Suite is rigorous enough to weed any such irregularities out. The career life becomes a ?sufficient drug test.??

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In his book ?Workplace Interventions,? Michael R. Frone, senior research scientist at State University of New York at Buffalo, argues they should. ?If an organization has an alcohol and drug testing program, then testing should include all levels of the organization,? he said. ?Substance use problems can exist at all levels of an organization, and senior executives can more broadly damage an organization than the typical employee.?

Illicit drug use has been tied to absenteeism, lost productivity, workplace accidents, and injuries, according to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.The ramifications are particularly pronounced for blue collar workers, who may operate heavy machinery and be more prone to a serious accident.

Addiction problems were the 8th most common red flag when spotting fraud and misconduct in companies.
However, drugs still cause problems for employees higher up the ladder, argues Frone. Some 70% of financial corruption cases involved someone in authority, according to a 2018 report from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, 38% of which were managers and 32% were owners or executives. Addiction problems were the 8th most common red flag when spotting fraud and misconduct, the study showed.

Musk?s reported recreational drug use was previously called into question when he abruptly declared on Twitter TWTR, -1.04% he would convert Tesla from a publicly traded company to a private one, selling it at $420 a share (the number is a common joking reference to marijuana). Musk has previously said that drugs were not involved in this tweet.

The board of Tesla is aware that Musk has ?on occasion used recreational drugs,? a New York Times report said. Rapper Azealia Banks publicly accused Musk of tweeting after taking the psychedelic drug acid. Kara Swisher, a tech reporter, said many Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are now using psychedelic drugs like mushrooms, LSD, and the hallucinogen DMT in addition to weed to stoke creativity and innovation.

Of course, many executives do use drugs, and it doesn?t always hurt their careers. One recent high-profile example is President Donald Trump?s chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow, who battled cocaine and alcohol addiction in the 1990s that forced him to take a four-week medical leave from Bear Stearns. Prior to the leave he skipped a speech before 200 investors in 1994. He later went to a residential rehabilitation program for six months and said he is sober now.

Also see: Americans struggling with opioid addiction miss 50% more work than everyone else

The global drug screening market is expected to continue to grow 10% in the period between 2017 and 2025, according to figures released last month by market intelligence company Business Industry Reports. The rise is fueled primarily by workplace drug testing, it said........
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https://www.marketwatch.com/story/e...sting-for-ceos-is-exceedingly-rare-2018-09-07
 
The basic standard seems to be rich people can do whatever they want. While the poor are squeezed in an ever tightening vice.
 
I agree with C. H. and cj.


Elon Musk is being a real rebel by doing it out in the open while being a CEO of several large investment based projects. I admire his "moxy" but wonder how it will pan out for him in the long term. Only time will tell, but I'm in his corner ;)
 
Nothing personal against Musk (may he smoke all the weed he desires for all I care), but in general, this is just another clear example of the two-tiered justice system in existence within the U.S. And when compared to other western nations, it's in a league of its own, so to speak.

Yes, Cannabis is legal for recreational consumption in the state of California, and that's what I like to hear, however, American citizens who reside there continue to be fired for failing random drug testing for Marijuana. Ergo, the rich continue to get away with a slap on the wrist (typically a fine), while poor citizens are treated far, far harsher. Land of the Free, my asscheeks.
 
I dont think Elon smoked much weed in his lifetime. This time on air was one of his first times. I think Grimes (the crazy weird ass great musical artist and generally artsy person) had something to do with him getting more into drugs...

CEOs and drugs...hm..good question. My brother was a low level CEO once and he fits this pattern. He doesnt even drink much or often. He is very ambitious and generally views drugs as bad or even .... not enjoyable? He isnt even curious about them. He tried weed once and was like 'meh'. Nowadays he gets a bit into buddhism which is his first step into spirituality.

I think people who are crazy driven to be on a higher career level are just very focused on that. Some may even try drugs, but wont feel too much about it because they arent ...I dunno, open (for a lack of a better word) to it. Also I think their brains funtion a bit more differently. And the ones that do get into drugs prefer stuff like amphetamine/coke, anything that makes them think faster, work harder so as not to lose their track onto a higher position careerwise.
 
Once you reach oligarch territory you can diddle kids, kill a woman (Ted Kennedy,) there's a variety of things that are decriminalized/legal at that level that are federal crimes to the common man.

Doing drugs is the least of it/
 
The amount of coverage this has got in the news is an absolute joke. Who gives a fuck, seriously.

I am a fan of Joe Rogan generally but this podcast I thought was a bit of a letdown - he really didn't ask Elon interesting questions, they just covered the same old ground that has been discussed before. That said, Elon and his companies are involved in so many fascinating projects, it's just baffling but sadly not too surprising that a clip of him taking a single puff on a joint was the major talking point of the interview. Also - he quite clearly doesn't even inhale, just tastes the smoke in his mouth like a cigar.

Fox news or some other right wing bullshit factory came out with some headline like "Air Force said to be investigating Musk's security clearance" which is obviously just a ludicrous fabrication, I mean what the fuck is there to investigate? The facts are pretty clear, and no-one in their right mind would suggest that the air force should cancel their upcoming launch contracts with SpaceX to pay a couple billion dollars more and wait another decade for ULA's next-gen heavy lift rocket to be ready, if it ever is, on the basis of a single pretend toke on air. Elon Musk doesn't help himself sometimes and should probably stay off twitter, and yeah, maybe he lives in a billionaire's bubble, but no-one can deny he's attempting to do some objectively important things for the future of the human race and is obviously under a huge, huge amount of stress.

But anyone, rich or poor, should be allowed to take a couple of hours to relax and either smoke a bunch of joints or just a single, non-inhaled puff on a joint without everyone losing their minds.
 
Vastness said:
The amount of coverage this has got in the news is an absolute joke. Who gives a fuck, seriously.
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You're right - the coverage has been shamefully-excessive.

Regardless of what I said in my previous post, it sure does appear to be true that the mainstream media increasingly relishes such manufactured hysteria. I suspect Harry Anslinger would be pleased.

Vastness said:
But anyone, rich or poor, should be allowed to take a couple of hours to relax and either smoke a bunch of joints or just a single, non-inhaled puff on a joint without everyone losing their minds.
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Indeed.

In fact, I must admit that I'd be pretty damn irritated by the controversy which has been severely-exacerbated by the usual networks on both sides of the political spectrum.
 
White_Rose said:
Elon Musk forced to resign from Tesla...

So I guess this is the end result then? Forced to resign and barred from being CEO or any other elected corporate office for a minimum of three years and a really nice fine. I guess he didn't get "away with it" like some thought he would.
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He will still be CEO of Tesla, and will still be on the board of directors. He just has to resign his position as chairman of the board. In any case, this has nothing to do with him smoking cannabis on air. This is a result of misleading statements he made on Twitter about taking Tesla private.
 
He manipulated the stock (intentionally or not) tweeting he was taking it private.
 
ro4eva said:
Yes, Cannabis is legal for recreational consumption in the state of California, and that's what I like to hear, however, American citizens who reside there continue to be fired for failing random drug testing for Marijuana.
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I wondered about this. How is that legal? Has anyone brought a test case to the courts? Hardly anyone would be employed if random ETG tests were used in the workplace.
 
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