A Heroic Story

In 1897, Heinrich Dreser of the German pharmaceutical company, Bayer, was concerned about the “enfeebling” effect on the heart of the company’s new drug, aspirin.  His concern was that aspirin might be counter-productive to the body that was recovering form an ailment.  Ironically, this is the very drug that many doctors today advise their patients to take daily for heart health. 

Rather than aspirin, Dreser recommended a new drug that he had just developed and tested on himself and a few colleagues.  This drug had a ‘heroic’ effect on the heart. 

The drug was released to the public in 1898 with great expectations. It was marketed as the era’s “wonder drug.”  While it didn’t claim to cure the common cold, it was better than aspirin in treating the cold, and safer than codeine; it also claimed that the drug was better on pain than Morphine.

Within a year the drug was available in various forms, including lozenges.  It became very popular in the United States.  A prestigious Boston medical journal reported, “It possesses many advantages over morphine. It’s not hypnotic and there’s no danger of acquiring a habit.” After 6 years of clinical trials the medical community had reached the conclusion and agreed this medication was wonderful.

Before long some patients were reporting that they were becoming immune to the wonderful effects of this new drug.   They needed larger and larger doses to acquire the desired effect.  Hospitals were beginning to deal with patients that were apparently becoming addicted to the non-habit forming drug.  The evidence of the negative effect of this new derivative began to mount to the point that in 1913 Bayer stopped making their “Heroic” wonder drug.  The name of this drug was taken from the word, “heroic”; it was called heroin. 

When someone comes along and tells me about the greatest thing that happens to be the newest, new thing, I get a little nervous.  I am not opposed to being culturally sensitive. I am not opposed to contemporary worship or music.  I am not actually talking about style at all.  What I am talking about is when the church, in a rush to be cutting edge and thereby hope to gain a growth advantage, fails to be very careful in examining what we are doing and saying.   Let’s balance our creativity and passion for the new with a wisdom that measures every moment by the eternal truth of God’s Word.