Paul Erdos took uppers, specifically Ritalin and caffeine, IIRC. Carlin was pretty vocal about the majorly negative impacts of drug abuse on his life and even went to rehab.
Prior discussion on Erdos, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2497420
Prior discussion on Erdos, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2497420
https://youtu.be/nCGGWeD_EJk?t=6m50s
I understand the comment thread you are responding to is lumping many psychoactive substances together, but the authors of the posted study were careful to distinguish this.