Heroin. You don't even need to say the word out loud. Just reading it conjures up the image of a bicep tied-off with a rubber tube, a bulging vein at the elbow cradle punctured by a needle, all in close-up and bad lighting. Right? That's the way it is. But that's not the way it was. While morphine revolutionized medicine, society at large was misled, albeit unintentionally. Once morphine's dark side was discovered, a worldwide search began to find a non-addictive, yet just as effective, alternative.

An Englishman named C.R. Wright was one of many searchers. Boiling morphine over a stove one day in 1874, Wright produced the first rough draft of heroin. But for reasons not entirely known, Wright's efforts were put to little use. Then, around 1895, German Heinrich Dreser, a scientist for the Bayer Company (the aspirin folks), diluted morphine with acetyls and created diacetylmorphine. Alluding to its heroic properties, Bayer trademarks the substance heroin. And the world changed.

Heroin was marketed as a non-addictive cure for respiratory diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis, both common and often killers at the dawn of the 20th century. It was an instant hit, replacing morphine in medical bags and medicine chests. But it wasn't just respiratory diseases on heroin's hit list: Bayer put alcoholics and morphine addicts in the crosshairs. Many doctors agreed and, once again, a trusting public signed-on.

So did the Saint James Society, a faith-based ministry of good works praying for God's help in recapturing souls considered lost to morphine. Apparently, God told them heroin was the answer. In the early 1900s they ran a busy mail-order operation, sending free heroin to any morphine habitué desiring redemption – or on a tight budget. So now I'm confused. Because while all this is going on, Bishop Brent is also hearing from God. And God is telling him opiates are a definite no-no, which makes me wonder. Does God have that kind of a sense of humor? Or is it maybe all those voices they were hearing were just voices?

No matter. Heroin was here to stay. Switching from morphine had a learning curve for addict dose amounts, as heroin was the more powerful drug, requiring less. And while it may be debatable shooting morphine is better than shooting heroin, not much really changed for the addict. Many continued living productive lives, though often in quiet desperation, something the moralists deemed not punishment enough, demanding in the name of God something more be done.

It is important to note that the number of American addicts remained stable after heroin was introduced. Most were morphine addicts to begin with, or alcoholics. For them it was just trading one drug for another and another broken promise. For as early as 1902 doctors discovered heroin to be even more addictive than morphine. Which explains why the overwhelming majority of Americans shunned both. But again, that wasn't good enough for the moralists.