Heroin was once a legal medicine for about 50 years!!!

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History and origin

Invented by Bayer Pharmaceutical Products as tetra acetyl morphine okay let's use a simple modern name Diacetylmorphine and was already selling in the 1898s well there is contradidtion on the actual date as other sources claim 1874.

Well Heroin is an extract of opium.

In the mid to late 1800’s, opium was a fairly popular drug. Opium dens were scattered throughout what we know today as the wild west. The opium influx during this period was due in large part to the drug being brought into the country via Chinese immigrants who came here to work on the railroads.

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What was it used for?

It was used to treat cold and pain.

At a time when tuberculosis was one of the top three causes of death and 30% of deaths occurred in children under age five, any substance that appeared to improve respiratory health by cutting coughing and easing breathing was bound to be popular.

What is more bizarre is that it was believed to be a not addictive like morphine.

Heroin was believed to be less addictive than morphine. In fact, at one point heroin was even used to treat morphine addiction.

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Illegal usage

1924 Heroin Act made the drug completely illegal, even for medical purposes.

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Image source 1, 2

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