Big Tech is a hotbed for psychedelic microdosing—especially among the highest ranking thought leaders. So-called “tech bros” are gulping down microdoses of psychedelics, be it LSD, ketamine, psilocybin, 5-MeO-DMT, or other drugs, and the trend is spreading like wildfire throughout Silicon Valley. Microdoses of psychedelics aim to improve mood and wellbeing without inducing hallucinations and strong psychoactive effects.

The Independent reports April 26 that what began as a turning point for Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, the use of psychedelics for therapeutic purposes, now extends to the top tech magnates in the world today. 

A “tech bro” is someone, usually a man, who works in the digital technology industry. They are also sometimes called “brogrammers” or “technocrats.” Tech Bros are gravitating towards psychedelics in order to survive the daily grind in a highly competitive industry.

Many of the top tycoons in the industry are openly sharing their experiences with microdoses of psychedelics. They’re also experimenting with psychedelic retreats, meditation, weird diets and even food deprivation (see Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.) In 2022, Wired called the phenomenon “The ‘Shamanification’ of the Tech CEO.” These approaches to well-being are being explored more often in the industry.

SpaceX founder and billionaire Elon Musk opened up about his experiences with ketamine in June last year. He argued that the psychedelic is better than the alternative, which is antidepressants that often cause side effects such as even worse depression. “Depression is overdiagnosed in the US, but for some people it really is a brain chemistry issue,” Musk tweeted. “But zombifying people with SSRIs for sure happens way too much. From what I’ve seen with friends, ketamine taken occasionally is a better option.”

He’s also open to the benefits of other psychedelics. “A lot of people making laws are kind of from a different era,” Musk said at the 2021 CodeCon conference. “As the new generation gets into political power, I think we will see greater receptivity to the benefits of psychedelics.”

A few years ago, billionaire and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel backed psychedelic start-up Atai Life Sciences which makes ketamine-based drugs.

Then Google co-founder Sergey Brin opened up about microdosing psilocybin. Psilocybin microdosing is the repeated self-administration of mushrooms at doses small enough to not induce hallucinations but with reported effects on feelings of wellbeing. It’s being explored for the treatment of conditions like depression.

“There really is a critical mass of intelligent people collectively coming together to say that we need to change policy around mushrooms—that we need to take them from the underground and put them into the mainstream in a safe and responsible way,” Dennis Walker, a mushroom podcaster and business adviser, told The Independent. “Because these are profound and effective treatments for many indications, and they’re also the birthright of human beings.”

Tech Bros Have Been Doing This for Decades

The late Apple tycoon Steve Jobs and billionaire Bill Gates—arguably the OG “tech bros”—paved the way by openly discussing their experiences in the past with LSD. 

Jobs especially liked talking about the world’s most potent hallucinogen, and suggested it played a role in the invention of personal computing and other innovations. “LSD shows you that there’s another side to the coin,” Jobs said, adding “and you can’t remember it when it wears off, but you know it.” 

This aligns with a recent analysis of psychedelic drug use among American adults that has indicated that business leaders and managers seem to be dropping more acid than their subordinates. 

The study, published last October in the peer-reviewed journal Substance Use and Misuse, analyzed data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and looked at trends related to use of LSD.

Researchers looked at data from over 168,000 adults over the course of the years 2006-2014 and found that people who identified themselves as managers in their field had experienced a notable increase in LSD use in the last year of the study, significantly more so than other full-time employees who did not identify as managers. 

“The results suggest that the prevalence of past year LSD use increased over time at a greater rate among business managers than non-managers and that this difference cannot be accounted for by changes in business managers’ perceived risk of LSD use or general substance use relative to non-managers,” the study said. 

Study participants self-reported their own drug use which included information on psychedelics including LSD. Researchers used this information to form correlations and they found that business managers and leaders experienced a .07% increase in LSD use over the last year of the study whereas other full time employees who were not in a leadership position only increased by .02%.

Trends show that tech billionaires are helping to normalize the use of psychedelic microdoses for therapeutic purposes.

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A reel posted April 10 on Instagram went viral, warning Tesla drivers that security camera video footage—even when the car is off—can be used against you in the court of law as proof of wrongdoing, with or without a subpoena. 

The reel was posted by attorney Nicky Blu from The Ramcharitar Law Firm, who has successfully represented over 500 clients across different areas of law including criminal law, family law, immigration law, and personal injury cases.

Blu’s video claims that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) is working with Tesla, based on a specific case he’s involved with, and details such as names and dates can’t be disclosed. “Tesla is working in cooperation with NYPD, giving them full recordings from all cameras of alleged crimes.” The purpose of the video is to warn Tesla drivers about the privacy risks that are associated with the self-driving electric vehicle.

“Tesla is spying on you and getting you arrested…” the IG reel reads. “And guess who they are allowing to obtain all footage from all of their cars for any suspicion of a crime […] ?!? .. NYPD and all other law enforcement. All this without even a subpoena!!”

“Tesla camera’s record even when the car is off” This is a problem folks! This means any crime committed around a Tesla, the video footage will be given by Tesla to be used against you as proof of a crime!”

Generally speaking, a judicial order or subpoena would be required to turn over data in criminal cases, and companies like Apple and Google put up a hard fight, prioritizing user privacy. But this attorney says Tesla is not putting up a fight with law enforcement and the company is fully compliant, handing over data freely.

Others Warn About Tesla Camera Privacy Concerns

In February 2023, The Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) carried out an investigation over concerns that Tesla vehicles could be violating privacy laws with its security camera feature. “Many Teslas parked on the street were often filming everyone who came near the vehicle,” the DPA wrote, but Tesla updated its onboard camera capabilities and the DPA didn’t end up fining the electric car maker.

A main focus of privacy concerns surround Tesla’s own “Sentry Mode” feature—a perk that allows drivers to view cam footage from their cars even when they’re not in use. “To protect your privacy, Sentry Mode recordings are not transmitted to us. For 2018 and newer model year vehicles (with software version 2020.48.5 or newer), recordings are saved to onboard memory and can be viewed directly from the vehicle’s touchscreen,” Tesla states. “Sentry Mode can also operate in a similar manner without a USB drive installed, with the ability to send an alert to your phone if a threat is detected—however, recordings of the event will not be available.”

In April 2023, Reuters reported that between 2019 and 2022, groups of Tesla employees privately shared via an internal messaging system, sometimes highly invasive videos and images recorded by customers’ car cameras.

“We could see inside people’s garages and their private properties,” a former employee told Reuters. “Let’s say that a Tesla customer had something in their garage that was distinctive, you know, people would post those kinds of things.”

Should You Be Worried About Privacy from Tesla Cams?

Merely connecting the car to a cell tower provides loads of location history via cell tower pings which are routinely subpoenaed from the wireless carrier in any criminal investigation. And while Tesla does provide a provision to opt out of such data collections, drivers will also lose functionality, the company notes.

“Tesla vehicles make use of a camera suite that provides advanced features such as Autopilot, Smart Summon, and Autopark,” Tesla’s data and privacy policy reads. “This camera functionality has been designed from the ground up to protect your privacy. Tesla does not continuously collect personally identifiable camera recordings and in fact, most processing takes place without ever leaving the vehicle. In order for camera recordings to be shared with Tesla, your consent is required and can be controlled through the vehicle’s touchscreen at any time (Software > Data Sharing). Even if you choose to opt-in, camera recordings remain anonymous and are not linked to you or your car, unless we receive the recording as a result of a safety event (such as a vehicle collision or airbag deployment). In such an event, the applicable recordings may be provided as part of your data request. You may also refer to the Owner’s Manual for your vehicle for more information on how you can record or retrieve recordings from your car.’

Last year in April 2023, The NYPD launched a test flight of nearly 200 electric cars in an effort to reduce the city’s carbon footprint. The department hopes to go electric in all of its 30,000 vehicles by 2035.

If you live in New York City, you’re probably already being watched on the street. The NYPD has the ability to track people in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx by running images from 15,280 surveillance cameras into invasive and discriminatory facial recognition software, Amnesty International claims in their report.

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After a major media outlet sounded the alarm about Elon Musk’s suspected psychedelic use, officials at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) were called in, but quickly cleared the billionaire’s company of wrongdoing. This is just the latest round of NASA safety reviews of SpaceX after a series of pot- and psychedelic-related stunts by Musk.

Thanks to a Jan. 6 explosive, snitchy report in The Wall Street Journal about Elon Musk’s alleged rap sheet of drug use, including ketamine, LSD, cocaine, MDMA, and shrooms, NASA was forced to investigate. The Wall Street Journal raised concern about Musk’s “mental-health issues” in its report, supposedly linking it to psychedelic drug use in the workplace.

Business Insider reports that the WSJ revealed that some executives at SpaceX said they were troubled by Musk’s erratic behavior at a 2017 all-hands meeting when he allegedly “slurred his words and rambled for around 15 minutes.” Two days later, SpaceX released a video recording of one of its all-hands meetings from the same year at X. It’s not clear if that’s the same meeting, but it was obviously posted as a response to the WSJ story.

In SpaceX’s video of the 2017 all-hands meeting, Musk stumbles over his words, and in one instance, he confused the day for Friday instead of Tuesday and announced incorrect timing for a series of SpaceX launches. SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwellb corrected him twice in the video.

But in the video, he explained that he was deprived of sleep. “Sorry, I’m like slurring my words and I want to try to enunciate my words,” Musk says at another point. “Sorry, I got almost no sleep last night, brain’s not working properly.”

Musk slammed The Wall Street Journal on X, tweeting, “After that one puff with Rogan, I agreed, at NASA’s request, to do 3 years of random drug testing. Not even trace quantities were found of any drugs or alcohol. 

“The Wall Street Journal is not fit to line a parrot cage for bird.”

It’s not the first time the publication has come after him for the same reason: The Wall Street Journal reported in a juicy article last July that Musk was taking ketamine.

“The agency does not have evidence of non-compliance from SpaceX on how the company addresses the drug- and alcohol-free workforce regulations,” the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said Thursday in a statement. “We expect our commercial partners to meet all workplace safety requirements in the execution of those missions and the services they provide the American people.”

Since buying Twitter, Musk changed its name to X, changed the concept of verified accounts with a blue check mark, and reinstated controversial accounts such as Donald Trump’s account, or suspected Neo Nazi accounts.

The Blunt that Started it All

Most of these controversies surrounding drug use can be traced back to a single incident nearly six years ago, when NASA and government officials lost their minds after he smoked a blunt on camera.

Musk shared a blunt with Joe Rogan on his show in 2018, shocking Tesla investors in the process. The high-profile smoke session was live streamed via YouTube on “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Musk also reportedly sipped whiskey during the recording of Rogan’s podcast, which included conversation about luxury watches, artificial intelligence, and Mars.

Rogan and Musk had been talking for about two hours when the show’s host pulled out a blunt to smoke, explaining that it was “marijuana inside of tobacco,” according to media reports.

“I think I tried it once,” Musk replied.

Before taking a hit, Musk clarified with Rogan that he would not be breaking the law.

“I mean, it’s legal, right?” he asked.

High Times’ Jimi Devine asked if that was the most expensive blunt of all time—given the safety review SpaceX was forced to undergo because of the blunt.

NASA ended up paying SpaceX $5 Million to conduct the review, and it was the first time it’s been reported that taxpayers footed the bill for it. Boeing, SpaceX’s rivals in NASA’s Commercial Crew Program outsourced trips to the space station so the agency can focus its time on more distant efforts like Mars, were also forced to go through a review.

The Washington Post reported last fall that the reviews would take months and involve hundreds of interviews that would dive into the workplace culture at SpaceX and Boeing. 

Musk also tweeted last year that the test flight of SpaceX’s highly anticipated Starship rocket—eventually en route to the moon and Mars—was delayed from its original launch date on April 19, 2023, and rescheduled for a new day, April 20. It’s the second time he’s joked about the holiday on social media.

On August 7, 2018, Musk tweeted he was mulling over taking Tesla private, quoting a price of $420 per share for the buyout.

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Billionaire Elon Musk floated spending $1 billion on a joke—specifically to rename Wikipedia as “Dickipedia,” while right-wing distrust in the open-source database grows. 

Musk broke the internet last year when he bought Twitter for $44 billion dollars and whittled it down to the bones, transforming it into a monetizing mill that charges for blue check marks, subscriptions to verified accounts, and the platform might charge all users $1 per month. Now Twitter/X is only worth one-tenth the amount it was worth when Musk bought it. Fortune reported last September that Twitter/X has lost 90% of its value and could be worth just $4 billion.  

He’s at it again, now with Wikipedia.

On Oct. 22, billionaire Musk posted a screenshot on X, formerly Twitter, showing that “Wikipedia is not for sale.” He then offered the database $1 billion if they change the Wikipedia name to Dickipedia, even if they quickly change it back.

“Have you ever wondered why the Wikimedia Foundation wants so much money? It certainly isn’t needed to operate Wikipedia,” Musk posited. “You can literally fit a copy of the entire text on your phone! So, what’s the money for? Inquiring minds want to know.” 

X users used the “Add Context” feature on the app to answer his question. “Expenses: $146m – 43-45% engineering improvements, product development, design and research, and legal support – 31-32% grants, projects, trainings, tools for contributor capacity, and support for the legal defense of editors – 13% Administration – 11-12% Fundraising,” users wrote.

The next day, Musk posted on X that he’s offering $1 billion to the platform if they change its name to “Dickipedia.” “I will give them a billion dollars if they change their name to Dickipedia,” he posted, adding that they could change the name back.

He replied to his post, adding “In the interests of accuracy.”

Wikipedia is the world’s largest database, and is using the first Google result to pop up when users ask the internet any question. Wikipedia launched on Jan. 15, 2001, before the events of 9/11. While certainly not considered an academic primary source, Wikipedia is made up of freely editable content, and the articles are hyperlinked to guide readers to more information.

The articles are written collaboratively by volunteers, known as Wikipedians, who are usually anonymous. It’s not a source, because Wikipedia articles can be edited by anyone with internet access), except in limited cases where editing is restricted.

Growing Right-Wing Distrust of Wikipedia

An 2021 article from the Cato Institute suggested that we’ve already lost the battle against disinformation on the internet, but people are currently battling over who controls the agenda on Wikipedia. Media platforms, especially in places like cable news, tend to lean right or left, and it’s constantly getting harder to filter out the nonsense.

But why do people who lean right-wing distrust Wikipedia? 

In 2022, a Wikipedia article on recession gained over 200,000 views. Right-wing conspiracy theorists claim Wikipedia manipulated its definition of a recession to favor the Biden administration.

Conservative news platform The Daily Signal speculated about left-wing Wikipedia bias. “You see the pattern comparing political donations from different professions: Surgeons, oil workers, truck drivers, loggers, and pilots lean right; artists, bartenders, librarians, reporters, and teachers lean left,” Daily Signal writer John Stossel wrote.

Elon Musk Buys Twitter

In April 2022, Musk bought Twitter with a plan to change everything.

Musk acquired Twitter, Inc. according to an April 25, 2022 press release. The move made Twitter private and set off a firestorm of speculation, but no one could foresee the dramatic changes in store. Twitter, Inc. entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by Musk, for $54.20 per share in cash in a transaction valued at approximately $44 billion.

Musk ran a complete overhaul of the platform formerly known as Twitter, but here’s a quick recap of some of Musk’s changes:

• Laid off 75% of Twitter staff.
• Reinstated the Twitter account of former President Donald Trump.
• Monetized the infamous blue check marks that used to indicate verified accounts based on public interest.
• Renamed and rebranded Twitter as X.
• Floated charging every X user $1 per month, just to use the platform, which already is live as a beta test in the Philippines and New Zealand.

NBC News reports that monetizing the blue check marks is fueling fake news on the Israel-Palestine war—typically old war footage or even role-player activity fronting to be new acts of violence.

“People who have paid for blue checks have a financial incentive to LARP [live action role-play] as war reporters by dredging up old stories or fake footage,” Emerson T. Brooking, a researcher at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensics Research Lab, wrote. “Elon Musk enables this.”

Time will tell if Musk can buy changes on Wikipedia as well.

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Harvard will soon implement a new program of study dedicated to the use of psychedelics and how they impact various facets of the modern day, thanks to an eight-figure grant from a former Tesla employee.

According to a news release, Harvard University will begin teaching a new multidisciplinary study of “Psychedelics in Society and Culture.” The course was funded by a $16 million grant from the Gracias Family Foundation, started by former Tesla employee and CEO of Valor Equity Partners, Antonio Gracias. 

Gracias, a long time friend and colleague of Tesla CEO Elon Musk was a director at Tesla from 2007-2021. A Quartz article said  Gracias’ firm also served as an informal CEO of Twitter after Musk fired the original CEO immediately after acquiring the social media giant. The news release from Harvard said that the Gracias Family Foundation is interested in the potential of using psychedelics for therapeutic use as well as applying funding to such endeavors. 

“Harvard is the ideal place to explore the topic of psychedelics from new angles, and to craft a framework for their legal, safe, and appropriate impact on society,” Gracias said in a statement.

The news release from Harvard said that the new psychedelic-oriented program will be taught as a joint effort between the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Divinity School. The program will seek to apply Harvard’s record of excellence and professionalism to a topic often marred in mysticism and bro science partially leftover from the somewhat messy psychedelic and psychedelic-adjacent movements of the 1960’s.

In Harvard’s own words, the program “seeks to transform the psychedelics research landscape by producing cutting-edge scholarship and convening faculty, students, and experts to engage in discussion around their far-reaching implications.”

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to bring students, faculty, and researchers together around the important issue of how psychedelics impact our society,” said Robin Kelsey, Shirley Carter Burden Professor of Photography and dean of arts and humanities. “Harvard is uniquely poised to become the most exciting place to debate, discuss, and innovate in this area.”

The new Harvard program would not be considered the first psychedelic-based area of study at an American university as several psychedelic-based credential programs already exist at certain other colleges but this certainly marks a monumental announcement from an Ivy League University of Harvard’s caliber. The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School also started an initiative in 2021 called the Project on Psychedelic Law and Regulation (POPLAR) to study psychedelics’ “ethical legal and social implications.”

The recent news was hailed by many as much-needed progress in the development of psychedelic education, including Michael Pollan, long-time psychedelic advocate and author of several books on the topic including “How to Change Your Mind” which was later made into a Netflix series. 

“This is a visionary gift, in that it is the first to take the so-called psychedelic renaissance beyond medicine, by recognizing the importance of the humanities in exploring the impact and potential of these remarkable substances,” Pollan said in a written statement. 

It was not immediately clear based on the news release specifically when the new program would be available to Harvard students or what sort of curriculum would be applied to a relatively new and still-emerging field of study. The news release did indicate that the program would “approach the field from a range of humanistic and social scientific viewpoints including law, policy, ethics, religion and spirituality, the nature of consciousness, and art and literature.”

The news release also said that the $16 million from the Gracias Family Foundation would additionally be used to help fund  the expansion of existing programs at the Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions as well as funding new fellowships at the CSWR and the Mahindra Humanities Center. 

“One of Harvard’s greatest strengths is our ability to bring together experts from various fields to engage in vibrant discussions that advance scholarship from multiple angles,” said Bruno Carvalho, interim director of the Mahindra Humanities Center. “This initiative will give us the space to explore and enrich public dialogue around psychedelics, including their potentials, as well as ethical and social implications.”

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Twitter is opening the door for advertisers of packaged weed products, the Associated Press reports, with refined changes to the announcement that it will begin allowing THC ads in addition to CBD ads last February. 

The new changes will allow packaged cannabis products in ad creative and include updated medical and adult-use cannabis markets. It’s the latest major shift on the platform since being purchased by Elon Musk in April 2022.

“As of today, in certain US states we have taken measures to relax our Cannabis Ads policy to create more opportunities for responsible cannabis marketing—the largest step forward by any social media platform,” Alexa Alianiello, of Twitter US Sales & Partnerships and Rohan Routroy, of Twitter Next wrote on a blog post on the Twitter website. 

When Twitter initially announced changes to its ad policy in February, Twitter users criticized how several features still didn’t appear to work. Users complained that features like radius targeting and conversion tracking still were not functional. It appeared that some features were in the beta stage.

The new changes could iron out some of those problems, in theory. “Going forward, Twitter is allowing advertisers to promote brand preference and informational cannabis-related content for CBD, THC, and cannabis-related products and services,” the blog post announcement reads.

The post continues, “We look forward to helping more customers unlock the power of Twitter Ads to connect with the cannabis conversation and drive their business forward.”

According to Alianiello, Twitter also added additional medical cannabis markets and adult-use markets to the platform. Several restrictions remain in place, mostly surrounding the practice of making unproven or false medical claims.

Any advertisement for cannabis and CBD content must not appeal to minors in the creative, landing pages must be age gated, and sales must be age verified; not use characters, sports-persons, celebrities, or images/icons appealing to minors; not use minors or pregnant women as models in advertising; not make claims of efficacy or health benefits; not make false/misleading claims; not show depiction of cannabis product use; not depict people using or under the influence; and not encourage transport across state lines.

A Gradual Loosening of Cannabis Rules

Twitter announced major changes to its cannabis policy in February, saying that it would allow THC, CBD, and similar ads in the U.S.

The changes were first reported by AdCann. “Up until now, only CBD topical brands were permitted to advertise on Twitter’s platform,” AdCann wrote on its website. “Moving forward—the social network will allow for the promotion of regulated THC and CBD-containing cannabis products, accessories, services and more.” 

Twitter posted the policy update on its Drugs and Drug Paraphernalia section of the website, which outlines the process for advertisers promoting cannabis products.

Elon Musk made drastic changes to the Twitter platform, notably removing the coveted blue check marks from verified accounts. Twitter Blue completely rewrote the system, instead allowing verified blue check marks to anyone who is willing to pay a small monthly fee.

This change caused an uproar among prominent Twitter users such as Stephen King, whose complaint over an unwanted blue check mark led to a personal exchange with Musk. Lebron James also announced he refused to pay for the blue check mark but was gifted one anyways.

One of Tucker Carlson’s final interviews was with Elon Musk, before being unexpectedly canned by Fox News despite being one of the platform’s biggest stars. In the interview, when confronted about the billions of dollars’ worth drop in value for Twitter, Musk said there are “some things money can’t buy.”

Time will tell if the new changes to THC and CBD ads stay in place.

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The test flight of SpaceX’s highly anticipated Starship rocket—eventually en route to the moon and Mars—was delayed from its original launch date on Monday and rescheduled for a new day: April 20.

The rocket remains on the launchpad located in Cameron County, Texas, approximately 17 miles east of Brownsville, while engineers get the rocket’s pressurized system ready again, which unexpectedly froze. “A pressurant valve appears to be frozen, so unless it starts operating soon, no launch today,” Musk initially tweeted Monday.

“SpaceX is targeting as soon as Thursday, April 20 for the first flight test of a fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket from Starbase in Texas,” the company posted. “The 62 minute launch window opens at 8:28 a.m. CT and closes at 9:30 a.m. CT.” The fact that it will launch on April 20 is “perhaps inevitable,” Musk tweeted in reply to the announcement.

What makes Starship unique is its fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit. Musk and the SpaceX team believe that humanity will return to the Moon and travel to Mars. This particular test will help SpaceX improve the probability of success in the future. 

“To date, the SpaceX team has completed multiple sub-orbital flight tests of Starship’s upper stage from Starbase, successfully demonstrating an unprecedented approach to controlled flight,” SpaceX wrote. “These flight tests helped validate the vehicle’s design, proving Starship can fly through the subsonic phase of entry before re-lighting its engines and flipping itself to a vertical configuration for landing.”

SpaceX explained why there are so many factors that can delay a space flight.

“In addition to the testing of Starship’s upper stage, the team has conducted numerous tests of the Super Heavy rocket, which include the increasingly complex static fires that led to a full-duration 31 Raptor engine test—the largest number of simultaneous rocket engine ignitions in history. The team has also constructed the world’s tallest rocket launch and catch tower. At 146 meters, or nearly 500 feet tall, the launch and catch tower is designed to support vehicle integration, launch, and catch of the Super Heavy rocket booster. For the first flight test, the team will not attempt a vertical landing of Starship or a catch of the Super Heavy booster.”

A live webcast of the flight test will begin about 45 minutes before liftoff. As is the case with many space-related launches, this schedule is dynamic and likely to change.

“During the next attempt on Thursday, the Super Heavy booster will detach and then make a hard splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico about eight minutes after liftoff. Starship’s upper-stage spacecraft will make a partial lap around Earth, coming down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii around 90 minutes after launch,” the report said.

Is the 4/20 date significant? Probably, given Musk’s past five years in the spotlight: On August 7, 2018, Musk tweeted he was mulling over taking Tesla private, quoting a price of $420 per share for the buyout.

He told the New York Times that he’s aware of how popular weed is, but he’s not sure how it could help productivity, to be candid. “It seemed like better karma at $420 than at $419,” Musk said. “But I was not on weed, to be clear.” That all changed a month later on a podcast appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience.

On September 6, 2018, Musk smoked a blunt on episode #1169 of The Joe Rogan Experience. Rogan himself became embroiled in the topic of free speech due to his Spotify fiasco, over concerns the podcaster was sharing information that wasn’t medically sound.

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In a seismic shift away from the way nearly all major social media platforms handle cannabis ad-related content, Twitter announced it will be the first to allow cannabis-related ads based in the U.S. 

Twitter announced that it will allow advertisers to promote branded and informational cannabis-related content under the following categories: CBD and similar cannabinoid products; THC and similar products; as well as cannabis-related products and services such as delivery services, labs, growing technology, search engines, and events.

The cannabis ad policy move changes everything for businesses with the money to advertise. Toronto, Ontario-based AdCann in Canada was the first to break the news.

“Up until now, only CBD topical brands were permitted to advertise on Twitter’s platform,” AdCann wrote on its website. “Moving forward—the social network will allow for the promotion of regulated THC and CBD-containing cannabis products, accessories, services and more.” 

AdCann continued, “American cannabis companies, brands, and purveyors will need to pass through a Twitter advertiser approval process to ensure they are legitimate and educated on the platform. Once approved, industry marketers will have access to Twitter’s entire suite of advertising products including promoted tweets, promoted product opportunities, location-specific takeovers, in-stream video sponsorships and partner publication features.”

AdCann reiterated that in Canada, cannabis has been legal at the federal level since 2018, so Twitter already allows for cannabis advertising in the country.

Cannabis Companies React to Policy Change

Leading cannabis company PAX, makers of industry standard devices like the PAX Pro and PAX Era, is among the first brands to advertise cannabis-related content on Twitter. 

“This is a big moment, as a major advertising platform is making the decision to treat cannabis like any other consumer products category,” Luke Droulez, VP of Marketing at PAX said in a statement obtained by High Times. “We’re excited to be among the first of Twitter’s cannabis advertising partners and be able to engage customers more directly. After decades of prohibitionist propaganda, there is an opportunity to destigmatize and normalize the plant and its use.”

Twitter posted the policy update on its Drugs and Drug Paraphernalia section of the website, which outlines the process for advertisers promoting cannabis products.

“We permit approved cannabis (including CBD – cannabinoids) advertisers to target the United States, subject to the following restrictions:

• Advertisers must be licensed by the appropriate authorities, and pre-authorized by Twitter.
• Advertisers may only target jurisdictions in which they are licensed to promote these products or services online.
• Advertisers may not promote or offer the sale of cannabis (including CBD – cannabinoids)
  • Exception: Ads for topical (non-ingestible) hemp-derived CBD topical products containing equal to or less than the 0.3% THC government-set threshold.       
• Advertisers are responsible for complying with all applicable laws, rules, regulations, and advertising guidelines.
• Advertisers may not target customers under the age of 21.”

Elon Musk and the New Twitter

Twitter owner and billionaire Elon Musk is in an ongoing game of chess: It’s the latest major change on the platform under his watch, among many, including the decisions to launch paid verification and reinstate accounts like Donald Trump’s.  

Meanwhile, on Feb. 4, Twitter owner Elon Musk cryptically tweeted “420,” which assuredly is a jab back at a previous 2018 tweet about 420 that landed him in trouble with government and aerospace officials.

In 2018, Musk rounded up Tesla shares from $419 to $420, announcing his plan to go private in a tweet. “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420,” Musk tweeted on Aug. 7, 2018. “Funding secured.”—sending officials from The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into a tailspin. Musk denied the tweet was about cannabis in a California court.

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While most platforms push back against cannabis content, the bird is now welcoming weed ads, and even offering financial incentives to new ad buyers.

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During a California court appearance Monday, when questioned about a 420 tweet, Elon Musk suddenly forgot the significance of the number in pot culture. The tech billionaire responded after being cornered by a prosecutor representing Tesla employees for a class action lawsuit alleging he tweeted and misled shareholders about the price of Tesla shares.

The fiasco began several years ago. In 2018, Musk rounded up Tesla shares from $419 to $420, announcing his plan to go private in a tweet. “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420,” Musk tweeted on Aug. 7, 2018. “Funding secured.”—sending officials from The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into a tailspin.

Musk said he tweeted the share price based on what he said was a “firm commitment” from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to take Tesla private. But about 10 days later, Musk admitted that the Tesla buyout he had envisioned wasn’t going to materialize.

After an investigation, the SEC fined Musk $40 million, forcing the billionaire to step down as chair of Tesla’s board. The SEC said that Musk misled investors. In the SEC’s complaint, Musk was accused of rounding up the share price to $420 from $419 “because he had recently learned about the number’s significance in marijuana culture.” 

Musk caused instantaneous uproar about a month later, sparking a blunt with Joe Rogan on his show “The Joe Rogan Experience” on Sept. 3, 2018, shocking Tesla investors and officials across the board. His troubles didn’t end there. High Times asked if it was “the most expensive blunt of all time” due to the fallout, with NASA- and SpaceX-associated officials reviewing his security clearance.

The Verge reports that Nicholas Porritt is an attorney for a class of Tesla investors suing Musk for millions of dollars that they say resulted from his failure to take Tesla private. 

The courtroom got tense: “You rounded up to 420 because you thought that would be a joke that your girlfriend will enjoy, isn’t that correct?” Porritt asked. “No,” Musk said, adding, “there is some, I think, karma around 420. I should question whether that is good or bad karma at this point.”

Musk said that 420 wasn’t a weed joke, but a roughly 20% premium on the $419 stock price at the time. “420 was not chosen because of a joke,” Musk testified. “It was chosen because there was a 20 percent premium over the stock price.” Musk also claimed that it was a “coincidence.”

The jury will decide if Musk should have to pay out up to billions of dollars in damages to Tesla shareholders for the money they lost due to his tweets.

Judge Edward Chen ruled that the jury should be aware that Musk’s 2018 tweets are false. Jurors will now need to decide whether Musk deceived Tesla shareholders because of his tweets.

Musk said that he was not relying on a commitment for the Saudi PIF when he tweeted “funding secured,” adding that his shares in SpaceX would also help fund the deal to take Tesla private. “Just as I sold stock in Tesla to buy Twitter… I didn’t want to sell Tesla stock, but I did sell Tesla stock,” Musk said. “My SpaceX shares alone would have meant that funding was secured.”

Musk has also been sued by a group of former Twitter employees after a mass firing. Musk recently became the CEO of Twitter after buying the platform for $44 billion in October 2022. Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz is Twitter’s second-largest shareholder after Musk. 

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