"Parker worked tirelessly on his craft, practicing the saxophone day and night, often fueled by Benzedrine. Parker was a speed and heroin user from then until the end of his life."
http://nypost.com/2017/02/05/charlie-parkers-heroin-addiction-helped-make-him-a-genius/
That's the dark side of the music culture's bidness model... killing it.
"They worshiped and served created things, and because of this..."
--Romans Chapter 1
But, OTOH:
https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Groove-Composing-Jazz-Shaped-Faith/dp/0692371303
I personally don’t believe for a minute that Bird’s addiction to heroine or his use of benzedrine fueled his creativity at all. If anything it got quite in the way. In Sonny’s own words: Bird scolded him when he heard he had been using.
I believe that if Charlie Parker was an exercise and health nut the chances are quite high that we would still be hearing him play today and a lot of other great musicians would have gotten on that kick as well.
The New York Post is just guessing...