The Bayer pharmaceutical company has a dark chapter in its history that most people don't know about. In 1898, the same company that brought us aspirin began selling another drug they were convinced would revolutionize medicine: heroin.

German chemist Felix Hoffmann synthesized both aspirin and heroin at Bayer within eleven days of each other in August 1897. While aspirin would become one of the most widely used medicines in history, heroin took a very different path.

The "Miracle" Cough Medicine

Bayer marketed heroin as a non-addictive morphine substitute and cough suppressant. The name likely came from the German word "heroisch," meaning powerful or extreme. It was considered safer than morphine and was prescribed for everything from coughs and colds to pain relief during childbirth.

For over a decade, from 1898 to 1910, you could walk into a pharmacy and purchase Bayer's heroin over the counter. It was sold in various forms:

Cough syrups and lozenges
Pills for pain relief
Injectable solutions for severe cases
Even children's cough medicine

A Catastrophic Mistake

Bayer's claim that heroin was "non-addictive" turned out to be spectacularly wrong. The drug proved to be highly addictive, even more so than the morphine it was supposed to replace. Users quickly developed dependencies, and what had been marketed as a wonder drug became a public health nightmare.

By the 1910s, the medical community began recognizing heroin's dangers. Reports of addiction flooded in from around the world. Bayer quietly stopped production in 1913, though they never issued a formal apology or admission of error.

Countries began banning heroin throughout the 1920s and 1930s. The United States restricted its use in 1914 with the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act and banned it entirely in 1924. Today, heroin is illegal in most countries and classified as one of the world's most dangerous drugs.

The Irony of Innovation

The same chemist who gave the world aspirin—a genuine miracle drug that has saved countless lives—also created one of the most destructive substances in pharmaceutical history. Both were developed with good intentions, but one became medicine's greatest success story while the other became a cautionary tale about the dangers of rushing drugs to market without proper testing.

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