Background & History:

Heroin (diacetylmorphine) is a semi-synthetic opioid. It is a derivative of morphine and is synthesized from it by a reaction called acetylation.  We'd tell you more about that process, but take our word for it, it gets so technical and scientific that you'll end up with a massive headache.  (At least we did.)

The white crystalline form of heroin is typically the hydrochloride salt, diacetylmorphine hydrochloride.   Heroin originally got its name from its "heroic" properties.  It promises to make you feel like a hero, it promises to make your problems and concerns melt away, and it promises to make you feel like you rule the world.  And it lives up to its promise.  But of course like most drugs, these are its qualities in the beginning.

It's Been Around A Long Time

Heroin has perhaps one of the "richest" histories among the many drugs used today and has been around a long time.  Records indicate that opium was used both by the ancient Egyptians, the Greeks and Romans. In fact, the poppy (which is where opium comes from) appears on Egyptian art dating back some 6,000 years. Opium was imported to China around 800 A.D. and by the 1600s, opium smoking was widespread throughout China. In 1680, a famous English physician named Thomas Syndenham introduced opium to the medical field. Here are some significant dates in the history of heroin:

1874: Heroin (diacetylmorphine) is first synthesized from opium by C.R. Alder Wright, a British chemist working at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, England.  Although its original creator, he fails to recognize the commercial possibilities of the drug.

1897: Chemist Felix Hoffmann, working for Bayer, re-creates heroin less than two weeks after inventing aspirin and one year later, the company registers the trademark "Heroin," a form of the German word heroisch, which means heroic.  It's initially marketed as a cough medicine for children, a pain reliever and a "cure" for morphine addiction.  It's considered by many at the time to be nothing less than a "wonder drug."

1899: By 1899, Bayer was producing about a ton of heroin a year, and exporting the drug to 23 countries. The country where it was most popular was the United States, already home to a large and growing population of morphine addicts. This, in combination with an investor hunger for patent medicines, and a relatively lax regulatory framework, caused heroin to really take off.  Manufacturers of cough syrup were soon lacing their products with Bayer heroin.  Heroin was available as a pastille, cough lozenge, tablets, water-soluble salts and an elixir within a glycerine solution. 1906: The American Medical Association approves heroin for medical use but includes the caveat that a heroin habit can be "readily formed."  Even four years earlier, French and American researchers were already reporting cases of 'heroinism' and addiction.  Since the communications between various agencies was so slow at the time, it took a while before they understood what was actually happening.

1913: In 1913, Bayer made the decision to stop making heroin. There had been a huge increase in the number of heroin-related admissions at New York and Philadelphia hospitals.  Other East Coast cities began reporting a substantial population of recreational users of heroin.  Some of these recreational users who ultimately developed outright addiction to the drug would support their habits by collecting and selling scrap metal, or junk.  As a result, heroin addicts became known as "junkies."

1914: The Harrison Narcotics Tax Act makes heroin a controlled substance, requiring doctors who prescribe the drug and pharmacists who sell it to register and pay a tax.  Later, in 1919, the Courts also determined that it was illegal for doctors to prescribe it to known or obvious addicts.

1924: The Heroin Act makes heroin and the possession of it illegal.  As with all other drugs, this becomes a beacon for organized crime to get organized.  By the 1930's, smuggling routes are in place to bring heroin to North America via the Middle East and Asia.

1947- 48  After World War II somewhat stifles the movement of heroin around the globe, the Mafia and other organized crime groups intensify their shipments of heroin coming into the U.S.

1960s: Asian heroin transportation routes to the U.S. develop with the start of the Vietnam War. The drug culture of the 1960s increases heroin's popularity.  Several high profile rock stars die as a result of heroin overdoses or complications thereof and heroin achieves a type of "martyr's drug" status.

1970: The Controlled Substances Act is passed, dividing drugs into five categories and setting regulations and penalties for narcotics. Heroin is designated a Schedule I drug, meaning it's in the class of the most addictive and dangerous of all substances.  Schedule V drugs are considered "least dangerous."  If you can possibly fathom this, marijuana is a Schedule I drug.  Why?  Your guess is as good as ours.

1971: The first high-tech heroin labs open in Southeast Asia, introducing a more potent form of the drug to U.S. servicemen in Vietnam. As many as 15 percent of U.S. soldiers In Southeast Asia become addicted and bring it home with them.  Homelessness rates among Vietnam Vets soar.  The number of heroin addicts in the U.S. reaches an estimated 750,000 people.

1973: President Nixon creates the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) under the Justice Department to consolidate federal powers of drug enforcement in a single agency.  "The War On Drugs" is born.

1980s: Colombian and Mexican drug cartels increase the growing of the opium poppy flower for production of heroin.

1993: Heroin addictions increase in the U.S., bolstered by new shipments of heroin from Latin America.

1996: OxyContin, a Schedule II drug, hits the market and quickly becomes one of the most popular opioid-based pain medications for those suffering with cancer, and other forms of chronic pain.

 
1997: The term "heroin chic" becomes popular, with movies, rock stars and models glamorizing the look of emaciated, strung-out addicts. President Clinton condemns the look as heroin addictions increase.

2004: The number of heroin addicts in the U.S. reaches an estimated 3 million.

2005: Berkshire County suffers its worst year of opioid-overdose deaths: 13.

2006 - 2007:  After spending tens of billions of dollars trying to eradicate poppy fields in Afghanistan, Burma and elsewhere, more heroin and opium is being produced today than ever before in history.  In fact, 2006 saw Afghanistan increase production by 40-50% over the year before.  Thirty-three years after "war" was declared on drugs, there are just as many or more drugs, and there are just as many or more people addicted to them.  The only thing that's really taken place is that astronomical amounts of money and effort have been wasted because they achieved nothing measurable.

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