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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Madeline Sherratt

Elon Musk posts new drug test results and insists reporters should do the same

Elon Musk posted a fresh set of drug test results, this time taken from his hair, and insisted that his accusers, The New York Times, get tested themselves.

The billionaire businessman posted a set of ‘negative’ urine drug test results on Tuesday in a bid to defuse allegations of drug-taking during Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2024.

Musk strongly condemned the report, which was released around the same time that the Tesla CEO left the White House after serving for 130 days as the leader of DOGE.

He also demanded that Times and The Wall Street Journal reporters get tested, adding that they would likely “fail.”

“The WSJ & New York Times fake ‘journalists’ lied through their teeth about me. Now let’s see their drug test results.”

“They will fail,” Musk wrote on X Wednesday.

Musk posts second set of 'negative' results in same week (X/@elonmusk)

In a Times report last month, Musk was accused of taking ketamine, ecstasy, and magic mushrooms, according to people familiar with his activities.

On Tuesday, when Musk posted his initial drug test results, X users were quick to notice that he had only completed a urine test, highlighting that the most legitimate test method would be to have a strand of his hair tested.

A urine test can detect drugs in the body over a shorter time period compared to a hair test, which can typically detect drugs in the system for up to three months, according to the Addiction Centre.

Musk’s most recent test showed a negative result for drugs, including amphetamines, cocaine, ketamine, marijuana, tramadol, and oxycodone.

Musk departed the White House last month and his relationship with Trump deteriorated shortly after (AP)

When The Independent reached out to the Texas lab on Tuesday to verify the results, a comment was declined, and the call was cut off.

The hair test was taken on the same day as the urine test on June 11 this year.

Times’ sources also accused Musk of keeping a trove of narcotics in a daily medication pill box that held about 20 pills. His ketamine use was described as “chronic” and so bad that it led to bladder issues.

In a statement to The Independent on Tuesday, Charlie Stadtlander, managing director of The New York Times, defended the newspaper's reporting.

“Elon Musk is continuing to lash out because he doesn’t like our reporting. Nothing that he’s said or presented since our article about his drug use during the presidential campaign was published contradicts what we uncovered. We stand by our journalism.”

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