New player, looking for some insight.

So as the title says, I'm in my first ever run through of the game, no mods, but I have all the dlc's. I have already finished the main story quest and working a bit on both far harbor and Nuka world.

During the run through I played all sides as long as I could before destroying the institute and the railroad. But during all this time I never touched any of the drugs or things of that nature. Wanting to make it a vanilla as possible run.

My question is what happens to your character in game when these are taken? Other than just the stat boosts. Any repercussions or visual changes in game? Do the NPCs react different to you when on the drugs?