Heroin was marketed as a cough medicine for children
German pharmaceutical-company Bayer promoted the use of heroin for use in children suffering from coughs, colds and 'irritation' in the 1900s. The multinational branded the drug as heroin because its​ employees, on whom the drug had been tested, reported feeling "heroic" after taking it. Heroin was banned in the US in 1924 after reports of patients developing addiction for it.