Heroin cough suppressant
When heroin was discovered, it was literally prescribed as cough medicine. The syrup was created by Bayer Laboratories back in 1898. It was even marketed towards children. It wasn’t until 1924 that the FDA realized that people shouldn’t ingest a powerful opiate to treat a minor cough.
Soon after showing signs of addiction (around 1899), the government decided that people should get it only with a prescription. The problem was they actually waited until 1914 to do so. Basically, it was a 15-year gap in which everyone could easily get their hands on a bottle of heroin syrup.
Now we know that heroin is one of the most addictive and harmful drugs in the world, but who knows how many people became addicted to heroin due to this cough suppressant.
