this isn't how things are defined, though. these days, heroin is not necessarily the best opiate against opioids. we have more selective drugs that are better at targeting analgesia over euphoria. fentanyl and more euphoric options are generally used for high levels of pain, not routinely. and so diacetylmorphine has very few medical uses besides treating withdrawal, where methadone is a better option.

because it doesn't really have a legit medical use, it's schedule 1. marijuana, lsd, and psilocybin obviously no longer really fit these criteria, but heroin probably does.

with all that said, i'm generally against scheduling and think pharmaceutical and recreational drugs should be available over-the-counter.

I mean Fentanyl should be schedule 2, it has legitimate medical uses. That's why Cocaine and Methamphetamine are also schedule 2. Marijuana should probably be schedule 4 or 5, if not completely de-scheduled and regulated the same way Alcohol is, which is what a lot of recreational legalization states have done.