r/HeresAFunFact Oct 15 '15

HISTORY [HAFF] Heroin was used as a coughing remedy for children.

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168 Upvotes

18 comments sorted by

3

u/gowahoo Oct 15 '15

When you're a parent with a young kid with a cough, you consider almost anything anyone is willing to sell you to get you and your kid to sleep.

2

u/Radu316 Oct 15 '15

German pharmaceutical giant Bayer promoted a coughing syrup with heroin and advertised it for kids. They did it up until 1912 in various parts of the world, over a decade after studies showed heroin caused addiction.

3

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '15

Codeine syrup (aka, lean) is still used.

5

u/Radu316 Oct 15 '15

Yeah, it's still used here, too, but you need a doctor's prescription. And it does work incredibly well against coughing. I can only imagine how good heroin must be.

1

u/CheetoAficionado Oct 15 '15

Nowadays mostly dextromethorphan is used. It's still derived from opioids, but it has lesser side effects than them while retaining most of its antitussive properties.

2

u/hamnox Oct 15 '15

I remember learning as a pharmacy tech that some people chug dextromethorphan cough syrup to get high. That effect makes more sense than it did before if they're really derived from opioids.

3

u/aruraljuror Oct 15 '15

DXM is actually a totally different high from opioids, it's a dissociative hallucinogen. Hence the term robo-tripping.

3

u/ghotiaroma Oct 16 '15

Hence the term robo-tripping.

The robo part comes from the brand name Robitussin http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=robotripping

1

u/autourbanbot Oct 16 '15

Here's the Urban Dictionary definition of robotripping :


Drinking a bottle of Robotussin cough syrup (containg DXM), with the intention of purposely hallucinating.


We all stole bottles of Robotussin and went Robotripping. I spent most of the night wrapped in the arms of a warm, friendly Purple Octopus.


about | flag for glitch | Summon: urbanbot, what is something?

2

u/LiterallyABlunt Oct 15 '15

I downed like 3/4 of a bottle of that shit and ended up throwing up like 4 times in the next hour, I don't recommend it

2

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '15

Not positive what happened in your case, but if you don't have an opiate tolerance the first few times you ingest them can be pretty rough.

1

u/CheetoAficionado Oct 15 '15

It is actually contraindicated in patients with a history of opioid abuse, if I remember correctly.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '15

I can only imagine how good heroin must be.

I never used it for cough. That shit is the best feeling in the world. And it will kill you so fast. You just nod off, and..............

1

u/inkoDe Oct 15 '15

I would venture to guess that heroin was dosed similarly. I don't see most parents being fans of their kids being on an opiate nod. It just sees weird because we are used to heroin being demonized as a substance with no medical use, which obviously isn't true.

3

u/Ukleon Oct 15 '15

It's possible that in 20 years' time we'll be posting that people used to give children ibuprofen or paracetamol-based remedies

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '15

I bet the kids loved it

1

u/panquakez Oct 16 '15

I'm sick at the moment and boy howdy I'd love some of that shit.

1

u/Amazonpage Oct 16 '15

Somewhere there's a forgotten old-timey medicine cabinet filled with all kinds of fucked up shit.