That's a fault of the article, not the research. There is adequate evidence that some drugs help the performance of some tasks associated with intelligence:
a two week regimen of piracetam was found to enhance verbal memory in healthy college students in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study [1]
Another study of fighter pilots showed that modafinil given in three divided 100 mg doses sustained the flight control accuracy of sleep-deprived F-117 pilots to within about 27 percent of baseline levels for 37 hours, without any considerable side effects.[2]
Modafinil selectively improves neuropsychological task performance in healthy volunteers, possibly through improved inhibitory control.[3]
Modafinil significantly enhanced performance on tests of digit span, visual pattern recognition memory, spatial planning and stop-signal reaction time.[4]
a two week regimen of piracetam was found to enhance verbal memory in healthy college students in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study [1]
Another study of fighter pilots showed that modafinil given in three divided 100 mg doses sustained the flight control accuracy of sleep-deprived F-117 pilots to within about 27 percent of baseline levels for 37 hours, without any considerable side effects.[2]
Modafinil selectively improves neuropsychological task performance in healthy volunteers, possibly through improved inhibitory control.[3]
Modafinil significantly enhanced performance on tests of digit span, visual pattern recognition memory, spatial planning and stop-signal reaction time.[4]
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracetam
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modafinil#Military_and_astronau...
[3] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15121488
[4] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12417966