The Invention of Heroin
When The Bayer Company began producing heroin commercially in 1898 it was heralded as a wonder drug. Indeed the clinical trials that preceded heroin's release indicated that it was a far better treatment than codeine in the fight against coughing problems and respiratory illness.
What the public, and Bayer, soon discovered however was that heroin, used repeatedly, caused patients to build up a tolerance for the drug, which in turn led to higher doses in order to get it to work. Even worse, heroin was extremely addictive – and by the turn of the century, many morphine addicts were turning to the drug for its euphoric effects.
These initial abusers of heroin were the first to discover that the effects of heroin use were greatly enhanced by injected the drug intravenously.
The Trouble with Heroin and Heroin Addiction
In the decades that followed, an international call for heroin's ban (or heavy restriction) was sounded. Production was decreased and addiction numbers dwindled. But in the 1930's, the underworld of organized crime saw the potential power of heroin and began producing and trafficking it illegally. Heroin use was now back on the rise and there was little law enforcement of the day could do to curtail it.
From 1940 through the 1970's more and more heroin was confiscated by officials each year, but usage of the drug kept rising as well. In fact, during the Viet Nam war, many soldiers became addicted to the drug (by some accounts almost 15% of all U.S. soldiers in the war became addicted) and even developed contacts in Southeast Asia that would help them become dealers in the United States as well.
What you need to know about the History of Heroin
Today, the heroin problem in the United States continues more or less unabated. It is still the number one drug problem at treatment centers in major urban areas such as Chicago, New York and San Francisco. More striking is the fact that new users of heroin is up, tragically among teenagers as well, leading to believe that we are not removing the scourge of heroin from society, but seeing it pick up momentum instead.
