Valuetainment

“Sold Heroin As Medicine” - Gerald Posner REVEALS How The Government FUELED Big Pharma's Drug Empire

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Oct 11, 2025
Gerald Posner, an investigative journalist renowned for his work on the drug industry, dives into the murky history of Big Pharma. He reveals how cocaine was widely used in early medicine and traces the origins of major pharmaceutical companies back to morphine during the Civil War. The conversation highlights pivotal regulatory changes like the Harrison Narcotics Act that transformed the landscape of drug prescriptions. Posner also discusses the regulatory loopholes that let supplements thrive, exposing the intersection of greed and medicine.
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INSIGHT

Wild West Of Early Medicine

  • Before 1900 anyone could call themselves a doctor and pharmacies sold powerful stimulants like cocaine openly.
  • Merck scaled cocaine production from under a pound to 180,000 pounds a year after commercial demand exploded.
ANECDOTE

Pharma Started With Addictive Drugs

  • Gerald Posner recounts how early pharma companies like Pfizer, Squibb, and Eli Lilly began by making morphine during the Civil War.
  • He also describes Bayer trademarking heroin and selling it as a cure for morphine addiction and for infants' coughs.
INSIGHT

Tylenol Was Held Back By Labs

  • Bayer discovered acetaminophen (Tylenol) in 1898 but decided not to market it after lab tests showed harm in rats.
  • They still marketed heroin and phenobarbital while withholding acetaminophen from sale.
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