Historically Herbal Medicine has been used for as long as human kind has existed. Three quarters of the world’s population still rely on herbal medicines for primary health care. There is a wealth of reliable traditional knowledge relating to the use of plants to aid healing as well as a growing body of scientific research.
Despite the effectiveness of well-prescribed plant medicine, with the advent of industrialisation and the development of techniques to extract chemicals in Western countries, there was a shift away from herbal medicine to synthetic drugs. However, in more recent times there is a growing awareness in the public that many of these drugs treat symptoms only and may have unpleasant side effects. As a result there is a resurgence of interest in traditional Herbal Medicine. There is a growing body of clinical and scientific evidence supporting traditional uses of medicinal herbs. In addition, as the herbs have a long history of human use, their safety and efficacy are widely accepted by many world wide authorities.
People & Medicinal Plants
As a people, we have co-existed with plants since time immemorial, they have always provided us with food, shelter, clothes and medicine as well as being an integral part of ceremony and culture. Herbal medicine has evolved in ebbs and flows throughout millenia right up to the present day, the knowledge and wisdom we are able to embrace now is thanks to all the herbalists, healers and plant doctors who have come before us.
Over the last century the advent of modern drug therapy has dominated the medical landscape and these fast acting and often life saving medicines have become the core mainstay of modern medical treatment. As this happened we lost sight of plant medicines' role in healing and until relatively recently traditional medicines and practices such as herbal medicine were shunned and even treated with contempt by the mainstream. However, it was eventually realised that this was short sighted especially as it started to become clear that drug therapies and surgeries were not without their own problems. As a consequence many patients and in some cases, physicians, became somewhat disillusioned with the limitations of modern conventional medicine. As a result we have experienced a resurgence of the 'old ways' with plant medicines making their way back into our lives again. On the heels of this resurgence is much scientific and clinical research into the properties of medicinal plants. The gentle effective healing benefits of medicinal plants and herbal medicine are once again appreciated and their place of honour in health care is restored.