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!?"

\u201c@micsolana I think we should legalize it. The probability of overdose or a bad batch is greatly reduced if there is actual QA & regulation.\n\nAlso, crime flourishes when substances are made illegal. Alcohol is very much a \u201cdrug\u201d \u2013 it\u2019s just a legacy drug from olden times when we had no\u2026\u201d
— Mike Solana (@Mike Solana) 1681160043

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.

\u201c@Liv_Boeree @micsolana It\u2019s 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\u2019t even try to hide. I see this almost every time I drive to Twitter.\n\nJust as with alcohol prohibition, people didn\u2019t actually\u2026\u201d
— Mike Solana (@Mike Solana) 1681160043

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."

\u201c@Jiu_Jase @WholeMarsBlog Exactly\u201d
— Whole Mars Catalog (@Whole Mars Catalog) 1672384890

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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Elon Musk 'super excited' about new Tesla plant in Mexico



A new vehicle assembly plant for Tesla will be built near Monterrey, Mexico, Elon Musk announced at an investor meeting, according to CNN.

Musk emphasized that the new plant is not displacing any workers or production, instead describing it as "supplemental."

“We’ll continue to expand production at all of our existing factories. So this is not moving output to anywhere, from anywhere. This is supplemental production," he said.

This adds to the company's list of existing factories in Fremont, California; Shanghai, China; Berlin, Germany; and Austin, Texas.

“We’re super excited about it,” adds Musk.

Tesla hopes to reach a goal of 20 million cars produced per year, after producing 1.36 million vehicles in 2022. However, the cost estimates to build the infrastructure required to reach that marker are somewhere between $150 and $175 billion.

“Maybe this total investment looks large,” said CFO Zachary Kirkhorn regarding the cost, adding, “I think it's quite small relative to our ambitions.”

Musk declined to answer questions about any new models of Teslas, stating, however, that he does not anticipate having more than 10 different models of the vehicles.

“We will have a proper sort of product event,” Musk said. “We’d be jumping the gun if we were to answer that question.”

In 2021, Musk commented on Ford making its electric vehicles in Mexico, saying it is "not obvious how this serves American taxpayers."

\u201c@WholeMarsBlog This is written by Ford/UAW lobbyists, as they make their electric car in Mexico. Not obvious how this serves American taxpayers. https://t.co/FUUXARHlby\u201d
— Whole Mars Catalog (@Whole Mars Catalog) 1631479111

When responding to an electric vehicle news page, Musk responded by tagging the president's account, saying "(Ahem)."

\u201c@WholeMarsBlog @POTUS (Ahem)\u201d
— Whole Mars Catalog (@Whole Mars Catalog) 1631479111

When another user said "Tesla is the most American car out there!" Musk replied "Literally!"

\u201c@BLKMDL3 @WholeMarsBlog Literally!\u201d
— Whole Mars Catalog (@Whole Mars Catalog) 1631479111

The billionaire answered the call of President Biden a couple weeks before the production announcement, pledging to assist the United States with filling out its roster of electric car charging stations.

President Biden had pledged to build 500,000 charging stations in the country by 2030, but has reportedly only achieved 10% of the goal. With California pledging to eliminate the sale of gas cars by 2030, the state would need more than 1,000,000 charging stations to be able to supply the 5 million emissions-free vehicles it hopes to put on the road.

\u201c@POTUS @Tesla Thank you, Tesla is happy to support other EVs via our Supercharger network\u201d
— President Biden (@President Biden) 1676499583

According to Reuters, there 20 auto assembly plants in Mexico apart from Tesla, including three General Motors plants, two Ford plants, and three plants for Stellantis, which builds Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep automobiles. Ford's plant also makes its electric SUV model.

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Apple workers cite fear of company becoming 'whiter' and 'environmental concerns' among reasons not to show up to work



Earlier this month, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Craig Federighi, the company's senior vice president of software engineering, reportedly sent memos to their employees indicating that as of September 5, workers in the Bay Area (i.e., near the company's headquarters in Santa Clara County) would be expected to turn up to the office three days a week. Cook noted that in-person collaboration is essential to Apple culture.

This news was not well received by a number of Apple workers, some of whom believe a return to work will make Apple "whiter" and impact the environment.

AppleTogether, an internal employee advocacy group which touts itself as "a global solidarity union made up of workers from all parts of Apple organizing for a say in our workplace," started a petition, which presently has hundreds of signatures with the aim of hitting 500 altogether. Another petition was created on AppleTogether's site, which has allegedly received additional signatures from both current and former Apple employees, in excess of 1,400.

The petition claims that Apple's leadership teams have failed to consider "the unique demands of each job role" as well as "the diversity of individuals."

The petitioner and their cosigners demand that "Apple allows each of us to work directly with our immediate manager to figure out what kind of flexible work arrangements are best for each of us and for Apple." Additionally, they demand that their "work arrangements should not require higher level approvals, complex procedures, or providing private information."

AppleTogether suggested on its site that the requirement to report to the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays, along with an additional day selected on the basis of what works best for a worker's individual team, "is almost no flexibility at all."

AppleTogether cites "safety, health, and environmental considerations" and "just plain being happier and more productive" among its reasons for rejecting the summons back to Apple's $5 billion headquarters Cupertino, California, which sits on 175 acres and has a movie theater, dental office, fitness center, physical therapy studio, and laundry facilities.

There is also a demographic reasoning behind the petitioner's rejection of the proposed hybrid work model. Requiring everyone to relocate to the office "will change the makeup of our workforce. It will make Apple younger, white, more male-dominated, more neuro-normative, more able-bodied."

Apple's workforce is presently 65.2% male and 34.8% female; 43.8% white, 27.9% Asian, 14.8% Hispanic, and 9.4% black. Its employees are most likely to be members of the Democrat party and, according to Zippia, the average employee makes $127,197 per year.

The Financial Times noted that remote and hybrid work has fallen out of favor elsewhere in the tech world. Elon Musk told workers at Tesla in May that "remote work is no longer acceptable."

In an email shared by Tesla shareholder Sam Nissim, Elon wrote: "Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean *minimum*) of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla."

\u201c#Tesla no longer allowing remote work\n\n@TeslaPodcast @SawyerMerritt @WholeMarsBlog @garyblack00 @GerberKawasaki\u201d
— Sam Nissim (@Sam Nissim) 1654047007

To those at Tesla demanding to retain work-from-home privileges as the proponents of AppleTogether have, Musk wrote: "Pretend to work somewhere else."