Cocaine, heroin and LSD: why the future of the economy depends on drugs

Top managers, CEOs, traders and financiers regularly face tremendous pressure and stress. To overcome them they are often helped by drugs and substances that are in the gray area, or even outside the law. In popular culture, there is already an image of a rapid financier who uses coke between negotiations, or a brilliant inventor who finds solutions during the acid trip. Judging by the confessions of the market participants themselves, such clichés are not far from reality. But the decisions taken under the influence of drugs are not always as effective as it is shown in the films. Whether or not the financial crisis is provoked by cocaine and why in Silicon Valley sit on heroin.

Fucking Wall Street.
According to the calculations of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the dependence of Americans costs the US economy $ 600 billion a year. In addition to the direct costs of rehabilitation, this amount includes losses from erroneous decisions and low efficiency. This is a rather rough and perhaps low estimate. Drugs can hide behind the inaccurate decisions of the vast number of people who determine the face of the world economy.

"The whole of Wall Street is overloaded," us President George W. Bush explained the global financial crisis of 2007. A few years later, Professor, former head of the Council on drug policy of the UK David Natt clarified the diagnosis. According to him, the crisis was triggered by cocaine, which by that time fell in love with too many financiers. "Bankers used cocaine and all of us have led to a terrible disaster," he said in an interview. Neuropsychologist, for a long time in charge of UK drug policy, explained that the cocaine makes its fans too overconfident and makes to go to unreasonably great risk. Natt also noted that cocaine is great for banking culture — " a culture of excitement and drive that no one stops at, always wants to get more." The same is true of cocaine.

Bernard Madoff
Photo: Chip East / Reuters

Natt supported by colleagues. Dr. Chris Luke agreed that the financial system was shaken by the irrational decisions that company heads made as a result of the megalomania caused by cocaine use. "In financial and political centers, the rampant use of cocaine makes people feel like masters of the world. People made crazy decisions and thought they were 110 percent right. They could not be persuaded, which led to the current chaos," he said. However, alcohol, which is considered one of the most socially acceptable drugs, should not be discounted. It serves as a catalyst and substitutes for other psychoactive substances. As Luke pointed out, George W. Bush was right, but only half — Wall Street got drunk and took cocaine at the same time.

After the statement, Natt flooded recognition of market participants. Within the industry, it was obvious to everyone that the situation had gone too far. But, as you know, you can not just take and slow down when you are dealing with cocaine and stock speculation. Terney Duff, once a successful trader, admitted that the main (and similar) pleasures in his life were cocaine and gambling.

At first, he used cocaine exclusively for recreational purposes after work, which predictably led to a decline in strength in the morning. However, the main problem was an adequate risk assessment. Two years on cocaine led to the fact that the trader began to make deliberately false decisions, which often contradicted the basic rules of the game on the exchange. "Cocaine reduced my ability to assess risk even when I was not under its influence," Duff concludes. According to him, cocaine on Wall Street is no more difficult to get than marijuana at a concert of Grateful Dead. This means that it will have to make some effort, but to get the desired special work will not be that many are willing to use. According to him, the way of life of the modern financier, associated with long work, constant risk and great opportunities is extremely conducive to the use of cocaine. However, Duff stipulates that not all the inhabitants of wall street by nature addicts.

The personification of how wall street under the influence of cocaine almost ruined the world financial system, was once extremely successful businessman Bernard Madoff. He was called one of the pillars of wall street, the pioneer of electronic trading. He served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the NASDAQ stock exchange. It all ended in 2008, when he was accused of creating perhaps the largest in the history of the financial pyramid and sentenced to a total of 150 years in prison. After the arrest, the brilliant businessman and philanthropist opened to the General public from a new angle. As it turned out, he ordered cocaine to work in such quantities that his office was nicknamed "the North pole". However, do not think that this whole "snow" Madoff took for himself. He willingly shared with subordinates and business partners. To maintain team spirit in the office were wild parties with cocaine and nude models.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the situation is about the same. One of the former employees of the Citi in London admitted that most of those with whom he worked, regularly cheered himself up a few lines, which developed incredible aplomb and self-confidence. The result was a global crisis. As reported by an anonymous whistleblower, after inflated under cocaine bubble burst, many of his former colleagues decided to moderate their consumption of "Bolivian powder".

Need a xanax
Since 2007, the preferences of financial market players have changed somewhat. Cocaine gradually began to give up its position, as is commonly believed, more mild and harmless drugs. However, Timur Aliyev, psychiatrist-narcologist, said that the opinion about the existence of the light and legal drugs is pretty naive. "Insiders are aware of the tragic turns of the wheel of fortune, so their illusion of less risk from smaller doses of drugs seems to be "working", but a dependent person is a dependent person. There is no escape from this," he said.

Photo: Nina Ruecker / Getty Images

Be that as it may, after noisy cocaine parties turned out to be the collapse of the financial system, the industry decided to settle down a bit and switched to sedatives. In 2010, 84 percent of wall street employees who failed drug tests used marijuana. In 2007, it accounted for 67 percent of the tests. The number of cocaine users has been halved, from 14 percent to 7 percent.

It is worth noting that only two percent of employees failed the drug test. A surprisingly small proportion, given the recognition of the businessmen, due to the fact that the tests are carried out very rarely and selectively. However, the trend is clear and coincides with market realities. The crisis has convincingly shown that businessmen are not omnipotent. Unrestrained growth gave way to a recession, many it was hard to accept. Therefore, drugs that drove forward, were replaced by substances that help to calm down and appreciate stability.

"Marijuana" helps " to accept the situation as it is. Does that make a lot of money? No! We can say that it is consumed by the downshifters of a pipe dream, " Aliyev said.

For the same reason, rapidly gained popularity pharmacy sedatives: vicodin and xanax. By 2013, psychiatrists serving the financial elite of New York City said that the Pharmacopoeia has almost supplanted the usual cocaine. As noted in the study of Professor Alexandra Michelle, 6 out of 10 managers working in the financial market are faced with serious mental problems that are trying to be treated with medication. While often they are making recipes without a clinical indication and abusing drugs. Dr. Nicholas Cardaras, Clinical Director of the Dunes East Hampton (elite rehabilitation center on Long Island), noted that now the classic meeting for lunch is accompanied not by a pair of Martini glasses, but a pair of xanax or vicodin tablets.

However, about stimulants, too, not forget, the most popular are adderall and ritalin. In a number of countries, they are banned, somewhere actively used. Although unlike street drugs, it is a drug of pharmacy quality, the abuse here includes the same mechanism as with all other drugs. First, euphoria, a rush, accompanied by an active release of dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, noradrenaline, and many other neurotransmitters, then the formation of the body's tolerance to the drug and, as a consequence, the increase in dependence, requiring large doses, which means — a toxic blow to the body. With excessive consumption, you can get the same side effects as with other stimulants: insomnia and anxiety, bordering on paranoia. So we can admit, with some reservations, that the business on the adderall-xanax swing has become more cautious and calm.

Even such a shaky balance couldn't last long. It is known that some drugs open the door to others. By 2018, a new generation came on stage, which is not so prudent. To cope with stress at work, Millennials use the same pharmacy set of stimulants and antidepressants as older colleagues. But they also loved street drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine.

New York psychiatrist Jonathan Alpert, who works primarily with young analysts and traders, said that his patients prefer substances that, on the one hand, increase concentration, and on the other — have a bright euphoric effect: methamphetamine and cocaine. Also, his patients are very actively using the services of the sex industry (prostitutes, massage parlors and similar ways of entertainment). All this, he said, indicates a complex behavioral disorder typical of the industry. People need to regain control of the situation and the easiest way to do so is through such extreme steps, which are ultimately considered to be forms of self-harm.

Photo: Toby Talbot / AP

As explained Aliyev, the very idea of such a lifestyle is connected with the formation of dependence. "There are many non-chemical dependencies: food, sex, sports, workaholism and etc. Someone remains at this level, someone goes further, - he noticed. — The fact that drug intoxication is not the only state beyond common sense eludes everyone's attention. What happens to the brain and psyche when the "wave leaves"? Remains "scorched neural network" and serious issues affecting global processes do not cease to arise. What solutions can come in abstinence and intoxication? Unpredictable!»

Silicon Valley of wonders
While Wall Street was killing itself with cocaine and alcohol, and then decided to slow down with xanax, Silicon Valley created an image of a creative place where special people allow themselves to look into the depths of consciousness. Their residents made a choice in favor of hallucinogens, which they did not hesitate to report to the press. The New York Times journalist Kara Swisher writes that only in 2018, local celebrities four times at lunch offered her to try hallucinogenic mushrooms, which, according to the interlocutors, will help improve her skills in journalism.

She was told three times that ecstasy would make her more sociable. Many times we were talking about microdoses of LSD. Even more often about marijuana, which is used in all possible ways. Also, it was a question of the most different hallucinogens up to such exotic as Ayahuasca (the hallucinogenic broth which is traditionally made by shamans of the Amazon basin for communication with spirits) or DMT (dimethyltryptamine, the strong psychedelic causing mystical experiences). Tripos have become part of a corporate culture that is openly spoken about. The Burning Man festival sent a lot of top managers from Silicon Valley, " perhaps during the festival under ketamine they will come to the idea of a new startup," suggests Swisher. According to her, technical specialists here appreciate their time so much that they can not use drugs just for fun, so they choose the most productive form of recreation.

Photo: Reuters

Working in Silicon Valley at Cisco engineer Kevin Herbert also assures that everything is done for the sake of work. The best business ideas came to him under lisergine at a concert of the Grateful Dead. In Silicon Valley always seventies. With the help of acid seek to "crack" the brain and push the limits of perception. Many rising stars of the computer industry, Chris Herbert admits, on Monday share with colleagues funny stories about their trips on the weekend. Tim Ferris, an investor investing in IT projects, also States that he is familiar with many successful entrepreneurs taking hallucinogens on a regular basis. An employee of one of the largest companies in Silicon Valley said that under the mushrooms made the main decision in his career: refused to work as a Manager and engaged in computer security. Literally, everyone in Silicon Valley believes in hallucinogens. If an authority like Steve Jobs admitted that the acid he started taking in College helped him think outside the box, don't doubt it.

"These drugs are no longer for businessmen, but for "sophisticated seekers" who often unconsciously serve the same banal truth — profit for profit. Of course, there may be a rise in creativity, but what is behind it? See for yourself, the athlete needs doping for endurance, the body has its own energy limit, which can be spent at a time. Are we interested? No, we want the show! In order to achieve something, supposedly you have to be in it 24/7, bring stimulants! And creativity is an even more time-consuming and non-specific thing, but it brings money. Therefore, a little acid "does not hurt", explained the psychiatrist — narcologist.

At the same time, he recalled that the formation of drug addiction is a single mental mechanism. "Personality, experience, motivation-all this is erased, unified. What, in fact, the difference, quickly or gradually it occurs? Moreover, no one knows what "surprises" our brain can present," Aliyev notes.

Time of heroin
In 2014, one of Google's Forrest executives Timothy Hayes died of a heroin overdose at the age of 51. The top Manager used a deadly drug on a yacht with a prostitute who was half his age. It is unlikely that he or any other industry veteran discussed the importance of heroin in work during the interview, but opiates already play no less of a role in Silicon Valley life than LSD.

Forrest Timothy Hayes
Photo: Forresthayesmemorial.wordpress.com

Located near the Silicon Valley elite rehabilitation center for drug users, Summit Estate reports that the last few years in the IT industry is the rapidly increasing consumption of heroin as well as oxycontin (a popular U.S.-based painkillers opioids, known as "hillbilly heroin") and stimulants that can legally to get prescription. According to medical experts, most employees in addition to addiction can boast of high intelligence, so they can brilliantly hide their Hobbies for a long time, which ultimately only exacerbates the problem.

Cali Estes, a psychiatrist, rehabilitation specialist, reports several hundred patients from among the IT professionals, most of whom were senior executives. "They came to me from Apple, from Twitter, from Facebook, from Google, from Yahoo, everything is very bad there," lists Estes.

In all of these companies, employees are dependent on heroin, opiates and various stimulants. Similar cases of the company diligently hide-news that employees use such "non-creative" drugs, can negatively affect business. Test employees with extremely rare. "Everyone needs a high result in the first place, and does not care how it is achieved," says Estes.

Dr. Norman wall, a detox specialist who works with employees from companies like Apple, said the Silicon Valley quarry leads to the same tough swings as on Wall Street. It is necessary to work much and effectively, therefore, it is necessary to resort to stimulants. Some specialists prefer to cheer themselves up instead of morning coffee, for example, with methamphetamine. After an intense twelve-hour day at home, they need to calm down a little and then comes to the aid of oxycontin or any other strong enough opiate. Dave Marlon specialist, rehabilitation center Solutions Recovery Inc., admitted that he was approached by many top IT professionals who could not start work without a morning dose of heroin or oxycontin.

As noted by psychiatrist-narcologist Aliyev, opiates are becoming the final stage. With them, it is not about increasing productivity, but about a deadly disease. If cocaine allows you to stay afloat for a while and even move up under favorable market conditions, then you can't build a financial Empire under heroin.

People try not to tolerate SOR from the public, but within the professional community, according to a high-ranking source, the use of heroin has already become the norm and is not hidden from colleagues. From 2012 to 2014, the consumption of heroin in Silicon Valley grew by 246 percent, according to the Agency for the fight against drugs in California. And the annual volume of prescriptions for painkillers containing opiates is 1.4 million.

Zombie Musk
Businessmen of the old school cheered themselves up with cocaine and, as seen in the example of Madoff, could stay afloat for a long time, hiding from the public their illegal entertainment. But the prominent entrepreneurs of the new era deal with less predictable substances. It will be interesting to trace the fate of Elon Musk. Not so long ago, he was praised as the greatest genius of our time and the Savior of mankind, but recently more often discussed in connection with discouraging behavior.

False reports about the intention to make the company private, which eventually cost him the post of Chairman of the Tesla Board of Directors and led to a criminal case, forced, among other things, to think about how far the relationship Mask with marijuana (or other psychoactive substances). So, the American securities Commission said that the rate at which he promised to buy Tesla shares, was specially rounded up to 420 dollars. It's a joke understood within the cannabis culture (4:20 is the time to smoke marijuana). However, given that in some States marijuana has already been legalized, there is nothing to hide. Musk himself did not hesitate to smoke cannabis live, which, however, did not benefit the business. In 2016, he admitted on Twitter (presumably for fun) that he was able to maintain high performance with a minimum of sleep thanks to crack.

Elon Musk
Frame: PowerfulJRE / YouTube

In 2018, Musk gave an hour-long interview on the phone to the New York Times. According to reporters, during the conversation, he abruptly burst out laughing at the sobs, complained that he was going through a difficult year and had to work 120 hours a week. Also in this curious interview, Musk said that from time to time takes ambien to sleep.

This is an extremely strong sleeping pill, banned in a number of countries. The manufacturer warns that the drug can lead to effects such as sleepwalking. Not until the end of awake patients can not only sleepwalk but to cook a strange food to operate the machine and to have sex. In the morning they usually do not remember anything. Despite such side effects, ambien became popular on the streets as a drug with the eloquent name "zombie". Drug users estimated that the drug causes a strong euphoria and hallucinations. This is not a rare case of non-standard use of sleeping pills. In the nineties, methaqualone became a popular club drug. In particular, it is extremely loved Jordan Belfort, better known as the Wolf of Wall Street.

The side effects of ambien include, in particular, hysteria, mood swings, uncontrolled desires and delirium (psychosis caused by the use of psychoactive substances). It is clear that on the basis of reports in the press should not be diagnosed, but it should be noted that most of this list coincides with the behavior of the Mask over the past year. Got carried away by ambien Musk before he started having problems. Back in 2016, the head of Tesla told the world that he understood: taking ambien is a stupid act. Also, he traditionally dumps for the preparation your weird tweets that place late at night.

The key decisions that determine the fate of the economy are made by ordinary people who are subject to the same mental problems as the rest of the population. Successful companies, and often entire industries can move in a drug trajectory: from a sharp rise and euphoria to complete decline and abstinence. However, it is not so easy to calculate cycles. Of course, not everyone uses drugs, on the other hand, serious usage prefers to keep in the shade.

"Now this shadow is not in the subconscious or in closed clubs, the shadow is in the mainstream. What movie is the boss not using coke in right now? Not driving drunk at full speed?" says the psychiatrist, the psychiatrist Timur Aliyev. As he noted, the usual image formed in popular culture has become a convenient screen, the problem is perceived through the prism of entertainment stories and does not seem so serious. "In real life, everything should be serious, so it's hard to believe that the drug around the head," he says.

It is obvious that big business is accompanied by serious stress and mental stress. They can naturally lead to all sorts of mental disorders, including addictions. Looking at the past history of UPS and downs, trace patterns seems quite easy. The fate of the company can often be determined not only by economic indicators, but also on the basis of the conclusion of a narcologist.

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