Bayer pushed heroin over aspirin — because aspirin scared them. 💉

Bayer pushed heroin over aspirin — because aspirin scared them. 💉 . . . In 1897, Bayer chemist Felix Hoffmann synthesized both drugs eleven days apart. Executives thought heroin was gentler on the body and non-addictive, while aspirin might weaken the heart. So heroin got the big marketing budget from 1898 to 1910 — sold as a cough syrup for children — and aspirin was almost shelved.