It is shocking to know how few people are aware that this happened. When the Drug War started all these little tid-bits from history were conveniently erased from common knowledge. Drugs have always been big business. When we look at the drug war now, it is very clear that it has very little to do with health and safety and everything to do with protecting the profitability of the legal drug dealers in the pharmaceutical industry. I would never argue for heroin use but it is undeniable that pure heroin is far safer than many legal pain killers (just look at how easy it is to OD on fentanyl for example).