Well, back then it was benzedrine but they still ate the cotton.
Sauce:
http://www.beatlesbible.com/features/drugs/Benzedrine
In the Anthology book, John Lennon is quoted as saying his first encounter with drugs was the use of the stimulant Benzedrine, via a somewhat unorthodox method.
The first drugs I ever took, I was still at art school, with the group - we all took it together - was Benzedrine from the inside of an inhaler.
