Heroin, chemically known as diacetylmorphine, was once prescribed to treat common ailments such as coughs, colds and pain--the drug was manufactured for such treatment by Bayer starting in 1898, according to BBC News.
Heroin is processed from morphine, a naturally occurring opiate extracted from the seedpod of certain varieties of poppy plants. The opium poppy has been cultivated for more than five thousand years for a variety of medicinal uses.