Drug Use & Addiction in Silicon Valley

“The more time we spend interconnected via a myriad of devices, the less time we have left to develop true friendships in the real world.” - Alex Morritt

On November 23, 2013, Forrest Hayes, a 51-year old Google tech exec and father of five, died of a heroin overdose. Seeking the sanctuary of his impressive, 46-foot luxury yacht (aptly named “Escape” and moored in Santa Cruz Marina), away from the pressures of his demanding job working in Google’s top secret “moonshot factory,” Hayes was injected with a lethal dose of heroin by a prostitute named Alix Tichelman. Video footage later shown in the subsequent legal proceedings clearly depicts Tichelman (jailed for 6 years after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter) preparing the injection, administering it and then attempting to remove any evidence she was there upon realizing her client had overdosed. She then left the boat, and left him to die.

Questions remain, obviously. Here is just one. Is drug addiction an issue that needs to be addressed in the tech world, particularly Silicon Valley? The answer would appear to be a clear “Yes.” Let’s look at the environment - intensely competitive, ludicrously long hours, 100-mph pace, capital-focused and yesterday is the usual deadline. In the startup world, there’s an expression: the 10x engineer (the top tier of engineers that are 10x more productive than the average, though the number is figurative). Not surprisingly, there are those who seek to enhance their performance (in much the same way as doped athletes). Common in Silicon Valley is the use of Adderall for performance-enhancement, a heady mixture which contains a combination of amphetamine and dextroamphetamine. In fact, it’s so common nowadays, it’s regarded as “at best, a stronger version of caffeine, and at worst, a more socially acceptable alternative to cocaine.”

Sadly, but also very common according to addiction specialists, it doesn’t stop there. Cocaine, heroin, black market painkillers will surely follow when the preceding stimulant starts to lose its effect. The typical tech company that exists in Silicon Valley has little or no policy regarding drug use. Many just turn a blind eye, plain and simple. Results over employees, capital growth over culture change. Only with the premature demise of Forrest Hayes and the resultant criminal trial of Alix Tichelman has the issue of drug use and addiction within the tech industry been broached in the U.S. media - may that long continue until pressure is brought to bear and help is given freely to those that succumb.