Hypothetical Bad News Addressed To Public 1.5 pages single space

11/8/2018 To the Board of Directors, On September 6th, 2018 on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, I made a mistake as a current CEO of Tesla and would like to address the recent situation. I would like to apologize but also acknowledge that saying sorry is easy. Thus, I would like to dig a little further. While as a CEO I understand it is my job to uphold the complete and profound professionalism possible in order to excel our business and shareholders investments, but before I continue, I’d like to address a couple things.

I understand that marijuana is classified as a Schedule 1 controlled substance under Federal law. The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) puts marijuana in the same category as heroin, perceiving it to have “no medical value and a high potential for abuse.” Although I disagree with this classification, I do understand the importance of Federal law. I have high regard for the Federal Government and our National laws, as I work hand-in-hand with many high-ranking Federal government officials and deal with an array of Federal laws. In 2014, Congress approved a budget amendment (CJS amendment) that prohibits the Department of Justice to use funds to prevent states from implementing their medical marijuana laws. However, despite that amendment, I admit my wrongdoing and submit my total respect to the United States Federal Government.

While breaking the Federal law was a mistake, I did not violate any state laws since marijuana is a legal substance in California. I was able to avoid any problematic legal issues, while many nonviolent drug offenders are still locked up in prisons especially people of color. Marijuana perfection in the United States has been changing. In fact, it is now widely considered to be a positive thing. We’re living in a time where 72% of Americans believe in the legalization of marijuana, which doubles the percentage from 2008 when it was 35%. We as a society must be and do better. We need to make sure that we begin to correct criminal justice and start prison reforms. We need to make sure we’re protecting and offering opportunities to people that are affected by outdated laws and policies. It’s not even about changing the perception of Marijuana but about correcting our laws to fix our mistakes as a society.

Tesla will help out the criminal justice system by ensuring that other individuals are also able to avoid any legal problems. Many people of color are wrongly accuses and it is unfair. Here at Tesla, we’ll be working with local government, organizations on training and hiring non-violent drug offenders that will soon be released from prisons and jails in States with legal cannabis.This problem definitely should be fixed. I was lucky enough to encounter this problem even though it did not turn out to be such an enormous dilemma for myself or Tesla. I am lucky. I want this problem to be fixed for those are are not as fortunate. Best & Well Wishes,

Elon Musk