DID YOU KNOW THE BAYER COMPANY MADE HEROIN?

Aspirin isn’t the only “wonder drug that works wonders” that Bayer made. The German pharmaceutical giant also introduced heroin to the world.

The company was looking for a cough suppressant that didn’t have problematic side effects, mainly addiction, like morphine and codeine. And if it could relieve pain better than morphine, that was a welcome bonus.

When one of Bayer’s chemists approached the head of the pharmacological lab with ASA – to be sold under the name “aspirin” – he was waved away. The boss was more interested in something else the chemists had cooked up – diacetylmorphine. Using the tradename “Heroin” – because early testers said it made them feel “heroisch” heroic – Bayer sold this popular drug by the truckload starting in 1898. Free samples were sent to thousands of doctors. The Sunday Times of London noted: “By 1899, Bayer was producing about a ton of heroin a year, and exporting the drug to 23 countries,” including the U.S. Medicines containing smack were available over-the-counter at drug stores, just as aspirin is today. The American Medical Association gave heroin its stamp of approval in 1907.

But reports of addiction, which had already started appearing in 1899, turned into a torrent after several years Bayer wisely release aspirin the year after heroin, and this new non-addictive painkiller and anti-inflammatory was well on its way to becoming the most popular drug ever. In 1913, Bayer got out of the heroin business.

DID YOU KNOW THE BAYER COMPANY MADE HEROIN?

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