Heroin Cough Syrup Opium and its derivatives, including heroin, morphine, and codeine, were legal in the United States until 1914. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, opiates were commonly used in over-the-counter medications for a variety of ailments from sleeplessness to “female problems” (Musto, 1991). This ad for “Glyco-Heroin” cough syrup appeared in 1904. Codeine is still used in some prescription cough syrups.

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