It depresses me to see that Health Canada still feels the need to hold conferences on the dangers of mixing herbal remedies and prescription drugs. That they still have to spell out for people that natural does not mean it can't be harmful after all these years of them being on the markets is a sign that the people who are prescribing herbals, and the companies manufacturing them, are failing the people they are supposed to be serving.
It's because of the abuse and misuse of herbal remedies and medicinal plants in general that we've already seen some of the more effective treatments become harder and harder to obtain. When it was shown that ephedra and it's derivatives were causing strokes when used in diet pills, it became a proscribed drug. In every herbal book, that I've ever made use of, it explicitly states that people with high blood pressure should never use it, and it’s sole purpose is for the opening of bronchial tubes to help relieve asthma attacks. Why companies started to put in into diet products is beyond me.
Herbal remedies have been used for centuries as medicines. Until they were saddled with the label "alternative" they were treated like we would treat any drug prescribed to us from a doctor. But now, all of a sudden, they have become safe compared to what our doctors offer us.
If those of us who make use of these medicines aren't able to change that perception soon, we are gong to find governments moving in to ban the sale of loose herbs, and only allowing pre-packaged pills and doses to be sold. That would be a shame, because part of the pleasure of working with herbs is having the ability to circumvent buying a product and making your own remedies.
In a world where we have so little control over so many things, being able to have a say in the medicine I take, even if only in a small way, is a privilege. I would hate to have to give that up.
Article comments
1 - sal m
an unfortunate new component to human behavior is the "more is better" syndrome. this applies to most everything, even medicine in all its forms. this is why people suffer from - or die from - tylenol poisoning, become resistant to anti-biotics and a whole host of other, self-inflicted problems. add to the mix the reality that some people "self medicate" and "self diagnose" and you have a bigger problem.