This guy was an editor for Rolling Stone. This sounds like maybe he suffered Sudden Hunter Thompson Syndrome.
I knew a city bus driver who was as grounded as could be in conversation and on the job. He never drank during the work week but put away a bottle of Hennessy on his days off. Did that for at least 10 years. One night he wakes up and his neighbors are yelling insulting things at him from their houses. Except they weren't. They put him on a 55 gallon drum of Risperdal and eventually brought him down with advice to lay off the sauce. Don't know whether he got dibbed out or a desk job. Be interesting to know if Hastings drank a lot.