Elon Musk suggests legalizing, regulating fentanyl would reduce drug deaths

Billionaire business tycoon Elon Musk has floated the idea of legalizing fentanyl in an attempt to cut down on fentanyl-related deaths.

Self-described PhD candidate Hilary Agro tweeted, "Most fentanyl sellers are people who use it as well, and they are trying to survive under the same destructive, racist system that replaced opium with morphine, then heroin, then fentanyl: the War on Drugs."

Responding to someone who shared a screenshot of Agro's tweet, Musk argued in favor of legalization and regulation.

"I think we should legalize it," Musk declared. "The probability of overdose or a bad batch is greatly reduced if there is actual QA & regulation. Also, crime flourishes when substances are made illegal. Alcohol is very much a 'drug' – it's just a legacy drug from olden times when we had no technology! Prohibition of alcohol in the United States caused the greatest increase in organized crime in our history. How many times do we have to learn this lesson!?"

Musk, who acquired Twitter last year, claimed that fentanyl is currently easy to procure in San Francisco.

"It’s super easy to get Fentanyl *right now*. People buy it in open air drug markets in SF and take it right in front of you in broad daylight! They don't even try to hide. I see this almost every time I drive to Twitter. Just as with alcohol prohibition, people didn't actually stop drinking, but they did start drinking badly made alcohol (Moonshine), which could be poisonous, depending on how it was made and what contaminants were present," Musk tweeted.

"The strength of Fentanyl means that even a small dosage increase can be fatal. People are rarely trying to commit suicide, but they can easily inadvertently take too much. Therefore, it seems likely to me that pharma-grade quality and precise dosage will dramatically reduce deaths. A limited time and location test of this policy is worth trying, as our current approach is failing badly," he wrote.

In late December, Musk tweeted, "I am not endorsing drugs, but I am saying that the evidence suggests that banning them is a net societal negative."

He also agreed with someone who claimed, "Regulation and taxation are a far better path. It will have a net harm reduction and take profits away from organised crime."

The U.S. Drug Enforcment Administration seized more than "50.6 million fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills and more than 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder" in 2022, according to a December 2022 press release. "The DEA Laboratory estimates that these seizures represent more than 379 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl," the release noted. "Most of the fentanyl trafficked by the Sinaloa and CJNG Cartels is being mass-produced at secret factories in Mexico with chemicals sourced largely from China."

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