Moneybox

Steve Jobs Told the Pentagon LSD Was “A positive life-changing experience for me.’

Kim Zetter reports on Steve Jobs’$2 1988 effort to get a security clearance from the defense department for work he was doing related to Pixar. There’s no earth-shattering revelations, but I was impressed by Jobs’ robust advocacy for LSD, marijuana, and hashish in a context in which he might be expected to be more apologetic.

He says the acid was “a positive life-changing experience” and that marijuana and hash made him “relaxed and creative.”

The documents don’t clarify what the clearance was for, but Walter Isaacson has previously reported that intelligence agencies used some of Pixar’s imaging software. Zetter notes that Jobs subsequently underwent an additional FBI background check before becoming a member of President George H.W. Bush’s export council.