With More Microdosing at Work, It’s Time to Amend Usage Policies

All the recent buzz around business leaders microdosing psychedelics in the workplace has gotten me thinking about the legal implications of addressing, and ignoring, their use.

Millions of people are using, tech giants Elon Musk and Sergey Brin are indulging, and some venture capital firms are serving psychedelics at parties (would you like the chardonnay or the ketamine?). Users are reporting enhanced performance, greater creativity, and mind-opening experiences. Better add LSD to the next board agenda, right after environmental, social, and governance.

Time to head down the hall for a meeting with your head of human resources. The first order of business is to look at how your policies address drugs. Many companies have taken a more relaxed position toward drugs like marijuana, particularly when it’s consumed outside the workplace. Policies often are framed around “reporting to work” while “impaired” by illegal drugs or alcohol.

The problem, of course, is that the workplace isn’t always so well-defined, and work hours at fast-paced companies aren’t defined either. It’s one thing to be smoking a joint in your company’s office at noon—but what if you’re working from home and microdosing at 6 p.m.?

Are you “impaired” if the substance you’re consuming arguably enhances your performance? Complicating the issue is that some of these substances may have legitimate medicinal uses. Musk, for example, recently contended that ketamine is a better way to deal with depression than the widely prescribed antidepressants on the market today.

Central to this whole discussion is that many of these psychedelics are illegal. HR and legal need to have a discussion with leadership about how using these substances in any sort of work setting—the office, while working remotely from home, meeting with clients or investors—affects personal and company brands.

A container of Psilocybe mushrooms at the Numinus Bioscience lab in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, on Sept. 1, 2021.

Photographer: James MacDonald/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The culture around taking these substances is secretive—invitations to parties are often encrypted, and there are reports that attendees are required to sign nondisclosure agreements. Leaders need to remember to be wary of doing anything that they’d be embarrassed to read about online. If the invitation to the party is encrypted and requires an NDA, there’s probably something going on there that isn’t a great idea to be involved with.

There are no secrets in today’s corporate world—bad behavior has a way of finding the light of day, and an NDA won’t likely stop someone from sharing a story about who they saw taking drugs at a party.

Boards should be vigilant as well. As the ultimate protector of the company brand, the board should have a discussion with company leadership about how engaging in illegal drug use can jeopardize careers and the company. While leaders may not be able to (or want to) interfere with what employees are doing off duty, they can set the tone for company culture and make it clear that psychedelics come with substantial health and legal risks.

Using these substances with employees even on personal time should be off limits for leaders. You’re always at work when you’re with someone from work, and what you do in front of other employees, even at a private weekend dinner party or in a bar, impacts work culture and can have legal consequences.

Similarly, your rules on illegal drug use should apply at any function where you represent yourself professionally, such as conferences or client outings.

Finally, you can’t look the other way when problems arise. Willful blindness only makes problems worse and pushes tough calls down the line.

Don’t ignore the warning signs, and thoroughly investigate alleged illegal drug use, and investigate matters thoroughly when evidence comes to light about drug use that in any way impacts the workplace.

Rob Chesnut consults on legal and ethical issues and was formerly general counsel and chief ethics officer at Airbnb. He spent more than a decade as a Justice Department prosecutor.