The article implies that he was drunk, but every eyewitness refers to sleeping pills. It seems that the alcohol claim is solely from his demeaner in the infamous outtakes without knowing the cause of the slurred speech. People assume that he was drunk, so the few articles written about this event duly report that he was drunk.
It is obvious he partied all night after a late shoot. "I took a sleeping pill and it didn't kick in until now" is just a polite way of saying partying was more important to me than this commercial. The man was a known alcoholic.
I once drank a 2-liter bottle of Mountain Dew, and then fell asleep about 2-3 hours later.
A few hours later, (about 6 after drinking all of the Mountain Dew,) I pooped. As everything moved in my insides, the caffeine finally hit me all at once.
So it's completely possible for a sleeping pill to sit in Well's stomach for a few hours before he finally absorbed it. I wouldn't attribute any malintent on his part here.