Heroin Was Initially Marketed As A Cough Suppressant By Bayer AG

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Bayer Heroin
Bayer Heroin

From 1898-1910, the German drug company Bayer marketed diacetylmorphine as an over the counter drug under their trademark name Heroin.  The name was derived from the Greek word “Heros” because of its perceived “heroic” effects upon a user. It was chiefly developed as a morphine substitute for cough suppressants that did not have morphine’s addictive side-effects. Morphine at the time was a popular recreational drug, and Bayer wanted to find a similar but non-addictive substitute to market. Bayer promoted the drug as a cure for morphine addiction before it was discovered that it rapidly metabolizes into morphine making it essentially a quicker acting form of morphine. The company was embarrassed by the new finding, which became a historic blunder for Bayer. (wiki)

Image: By en:Image:BayerHeroin.png and there from: [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2430786