The recent years has revealed a renewed interest in plant medicine as science seeks to isolate and study the single “thought-to-be” active constituent responsible for the plants medicinal actions. This mentality has led to a number of challenges and misunderstandings, where study of a single constituent in a test tube or lab does not represent the action or safety of the whole plant consumed by humans and instead may confuse the public. A good example is St. Johns Wort, where the thought to be active constituent has changed – frequently- as science learns more about the plant. Other research leads us to understand that it is the synergy of all the chemicals which make up the whole, which is important for its medicinal effect. It is essential to remember that whole herbs often contain hundreds of chemicals, many working synergistically, other chemicals working to enhance or buffer stronger chemicals in the plant.

When viewed another way, drug companies are unable to patent commonly used plants. They can and do however patent chemical constituents from plants. One single isolated chemical – often enhanced or made stronger in a lab- is essentially a drug.  When any plant chemical is isolated and made stronger – it can then be patented into a drug and often comes with the risk of side effects that stronger single chemicals allow. Until the 1950’s many pharmacopeias listed plant based drugs in the form of tablets, syrups and liquids in their pharmacy manuals. Remember that up to 40 % of pharmaceutical drugs in use today are originally sourced from plants. Many herbalists hold true to the philosophy that whole herb medicine is far superior than a single isolated chemical and often with fewer side effects.