Poe was at one time using laudanum, an opiate. He did not continue this as a habit. He drank to excess as a young man, but that was sporadic and seldom. Just a partier as a young man! I recently read and then saw a History Channel story about Poe's death. Apparently, when he fell sick, there was a cholera epidemic and Poe even wrote that he thought he had cholera because he had spasms. Others thought he was a victim of "cooting", in which some folks were drugged and taken to vote for a person or cause. Poe had taken a temperance pledge quite some time before he died and no person saw him violate that pledge. After testing his hair for drugs that were not present (but would have been if he had been doping, even though he died over 160 years ago) it is now believed that he died of rabies. He loved wild animals and tried to help some. Not only did he have the famous raven, but also a fox and other small mammals. He was found delirious on the street in Baltimore and died later, never recovering.
Wikipedia has a great article about Poe and this controversy. He could not have written as well as je did if he had been an opiate adddict ot an alcoholic. My opinion as a writer.
Part of a poem I wrote is:
My mother read to us every night,
Pushing away the darkness
With James Whitcomb Riley
And bringing it back
With Edgar Allen Poe.