Library > History > Opiates / Opioids Timeline

• 1804 — Morphine is isolated by Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Sertürner.
• 1832 — Codeine is first extracted from opium.
• 1853 — Scottish physician Alexander Wood co-invents the hypodermic syringe with French surgeon Charles Pravaz.
• 1874 — C.R. Alder Wright synthesizes diacetylmorphine, heroin, from anhydrous morphine alkaloid.
• 1898 — Bayer Pharmaceutical Company markets heroin as a safe, non-addictive morphine substitute, and cough suppressant for children.
• 1913 — Bayer Pharmaceutical Company stops production of heroin.
• 1914 — The Harrison Narcotics Tax Act is passed, which put a tax on opium, heroin, and cocaine.
• 1924 — The Heroin Act is passed, making manufacture and possession of heroin illegal.
• 1937 — Hoechst 10820 is invented, later to be called methadone, by German scientists Max Bockmühl and Gustav Ehrhart.
• 1930 — The Federal Bureau of Narcotics was created.
• 1970 — The Controlled Substances Act was enacted into law, creating a legal system that divided drugs into categories, set regulatory standards, and set penalties for illicit possession.
• 2002 — Buprenorphine is approved for treatment of opioid dependency under the tradename Suboxone.