Has heroin ever been legal?!
Question: when and why?
Answers: when and why?
In the early 20th century, when it was first discovered.
I believe that Bayer was the first to market it as an alternative to methadone. I don't remember exactly, but I think Bayer may have even marketed it as a children's cough syrup.
It was later discovered that heroin is metabolized into methadone by the liver and Bayer was left with egg on its face, so to speak, and heroin became illegal.
No.
no
Yes it was legal decades ago in the US... it is used as a pain killer. It is a pro drug to systemically deliver morphine. if it's taken orally it undergoes extensive first pass effect of the liver, if it's administered on IV it bypasses the first pass effect and rapidly penetrates the blood-brain barrier.
Worldwide, it is controlled under schedules I and IV of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. It is illegal to manufacture, possess, or sell heroin in the United States and the UK. However, under the name diamorphine, heroin is a legal prescription drug in the United Kingdom.