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Page 2
| Introduction |
| Medicinal Plants: An Answer to America's Healthcare Crisis |
| Much of the increased interest in medicinal plants began amidst the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as young people began seeking a more natural way to live, eating whole foods, more vegetables and fruits and shedding many of the more conventional practices of their parents. Along with tofu, yogurt, alfalfa sprouts and organic gardens came chamomile, peppermint and ginseng tea. These trends evolved into the burgeoning herbal community that we are seeing today. |
| In the not-so-distant past, consumers of herbal medicines were primarily motivated by a philosophical belief that naturally derived plant medicines were better than synthesized laboratory chemicals. Now the motivation is more pragmatic. People are seeking herbal medicines primarily because they are disenchanted with modern medicine. People are weary of the side effects associated with the majority of prescribed drugs and want to avoid irreparable surgeries. They are also looking to nature for help that conventional medicines cannot give such as nontoxic alternatives for depression, reproductive health, migraine headaches and immune deficiency syndromes. While the herbal renaissance is relatively new to the United |
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