Ahh, the good old days. Mum could just give the kids a bit of cocaine to soothe a toothache, or a teensy bit of heroin to tend to a sore throat.
Not all that long ago, people were actively encouraged to cure or soothe their ailments with some of the most hardcore, illegal drugs of our time. At one point in time, heroin was actually thought to help ween people from their addictions. Which would be funny if it weren’t so dangerous.
LIKE Debrief Daily on Facebook.
The use of these drugs back then is a bit like asbestos. Once upon a time, it was fine to use this insidious and poisonous building material in and around most Australian homes. Now? Well, now we find out it can kill you.
These deliciously wrong advertisements of yesteryear show what a difference hindsight (and bloody good science) makes.
Cocaine
Remember when they put cocaine in Coca-Cola? Maybe not, but in 1903, Coca-Cola was forced to remove the party drug as an ingredient. It was finally banned entirely in 1920.
Cocaine was originally intended as a patent medicine when it was invented in 1886 by John Pemberton. He used five ounces of coca leaf (141.7 g) per gallon of syrup in the first five years, but the company was bought by businessman Asa Griggs Candler in 1891, who claimed his formula contained only 0.5 ounces. (14.2 g). Either way, as we know today, it is a nothing more than a highly addictive and illegal recreational drug.
Morphine
This elixir was compounded by Mrs. Charlotte N. Winslow and first marketed by her son-in-law Jeremiah Curtis and Benjamin A. Perkins in Bangor, Maine in 1849. It contained 65 mg of morphine.
Dr Seth Arnold's Cough Killer, which contained morphine, from the late 1800s was claimed to cure coughs, asthma, pneumonia, malaria and many other diseases.
Sure, the kids weren't coughing any more. But it was because they were OFF THEIR FACES.
Heroin
Heroin seemingly cured EVERYTHING.
Heroin was originally designed as a medicine to relieve symptoms affecting the chest and lungs. In short, it was a cough medicine. The name is derived from the word “heroisch,” meaning heroic, which was used at the time to describe a strong medicine.
Because heroin passes directly from the blood to the brain, it is a faster acting painkiller than morphine. It was praised in early trials and quickly adopted as a medicine in several countries. It was effective in treating a cough and helping patients sleep, and there didn't seem to be any adverse effects. In fact, patients seemed to like it. Funny that!
Cannabis (Marijuana)
According to Narconon, the first record of marijuana use dates back to a medical handbook from China in 2737 BC. It spread across Asia and Africa and reached Europe around 500 AD.
Throughout its spread, it was used medicinally to treat gout, rheumatism, malaria, and absent-mindedness. It became popular as an alternative to alcohol for recreational use in the Muslim world because alcohol was forbidden by the Quran.
Wine (yes, we know it isn't illegal, but the ad is too good to leave out)
Whilst wine isn't illegal, it certainly isn't prescribed by doctors these days for influenza. Well, not by any doctor I've ever seen anyway. Although I'd like to.
Methamphetamine (or 'ice')
Amphetamine was successfully marketed as the first antidepressant in the late 1930s and 1940s.
While amphetamines in general were first synthesised in 1887, the methamphetamine variant was created in 1919 to counteract fatigue. Following the timeline published by healthvermont.gov, methamphetamine started being used by doctors in the US in the 1930s as a treatment for asthma and narcolepsy. Well, it certainly keeps you awake ...
Rohypnol
Rohypnol is a benzodiazepine, which is a type of sedative-hypnotic prescribed for anxiety, sleep disorders, and seizures. It's the same type of drug as Xanax, Librium, Atavan, and Valium. The reason Rohypnol isn't legal is because it's 10 times as potent as Valium, which is already pretty strictly controlled.
At one point in history, it was an easily accessible drug used to calm the nerves. The advert above showing a particularly heinous example of this.
Times have certainly changed haven't they?
If you enjoyed this trip down memory lane, you might also like to check out these:
'Don't be fat' and other weight loss fads from the past that made us smile
Remember that one time it was okay to feed your baby cocaine?
15 of the best vintage Australian TV ads. How many do you remember?