Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, recently addressed the detention in Russia of American basketball sensation and Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner. He voiced his astonishment at the White House’s efforts to get her back while drug users in the U.S. stay detained.
During this week’s episode of the “Full Send” podcast, Musk questioned the White House’s aggressive push to negotiate Griner’s release while marijuana remains federally outlawed.
“If the president is working so hard to free someone who is in jail in Russia for some weed, shouldn’t we free people in America?” Musk prompted an on-air request.
“There are people in jail in America for the same stuff. Shouldn’t we free them too? My opinion is that people should not be in jail for non-violent drug crimes.” Musk admits he is not a frequent user of drugs since he thinks marijuana is distracting and unproductive.
In Russia, a judge found Griner guilty of narcotics possession and drug smuggling and sentenced him to nine years in prison. In addition, she was fined 1 million rubles, or around $16,200.
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Friday morning in Cambodia that the United States would “pursue” a prisoner swap with Russia for American nationals Griner and Paul Whelan.
Blinken made a comment in response to a question concerning comments made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussing a possible prisoner swap during a meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
“We put forward, as you know, an important proposal that Russia should engage with us on. They are ready to engage through channels, as stated publicly this morning by Foreign Minister Lavrov.
Musk stated, “I find weed’s not that good for productivity,” Musk said. “I do actually have to make the rockets work and the cars work and make the factories work.”
There was an episode of the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast where the tech billionaire was shown consuming marijuana. Musk has said that the podcast controversy has hurt his reputation. In 2018, Musk lit up a joint while appearing on Rogan’s show.
Musk stated he did not do it often and wanted to know whether it was legit. The computer tycoon took one drag from the joint of tobacco and marijuana and then handed it back. Although the podcast was produced in California, where marijuana is legal for recreational use, SpaceX still has government contracts that prohibit the usage of marijuana.
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“I didn’t think I’d get that much backlash. The consequences for me and for SpaceX were not good,” Musk said. “Because it’s still federally illegal. It was pretty nutty, actually, because I had to have random drug tests and stuff after that to prove I’m not a drug addict.”
Musk stated he was unhappy with the extra focus on his employees and recalled apologizing by saying, “Sorry guys, I didn’t realize it’d be this big of a deal.” which is against federal law.
We have set up to accomplish that, and we want to keep doing, “This is what Blinken said at the ASEAN news conference.
