Heroin History -- San Diego

Brief Introduction to the History of Heroin

The drug known today as "heroin" is actually an opioid that was first synthesized into heroin in 1874. In fact heroin was also synthesized by the Bayer aspirin company in 1897 and sold as a legal pain-killer for years prior to its regulation in the United States. "The initial response to the launch of heroin by the Bayer Company was overwhelmingly positive," according to an article published in the Sunday Times (1998). The chemist for Bayer was Heinrich Dreser, and he wrote about heroin in several medical journals, and additional studies "…endorsed the view that heroin could be effective in treating asthma, bronchitis, phthisis and tuberculosis" (Sunday Times, p. 2).

By the year 1899 Bayer was making about "…a ton of heroin a year," and the company exported its brand of heroin to 23 countries; but the citizens...
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