Herbs Are Not Drugs, No Matter What the 'Authorities' ClaimStepping back and taking a rational look at the claim that herbs are drugs reveals the utter absurdity of it. Yet, that's the excuse used to 'protect' us against their nearly nonexistent dangers.by Heidi Stevenson10 May 2011 
Redefining terms is one of the most insidious methods used to convince people that their interests lie with limitations of their rights. To that end, governments and media around the world have been claiming that herbs are drugs, and therefore need to be controlled for our own good. There's a smidgeon of truth to the claim, just enough to allow constant hammering of it in the media to make the idea sink into people's brains, much like osmosis, so that it seems like the truth. There's no logic to it, though. Close examination demonstrates the lack of any truth in the idea that herbs are drugs. The image above includes a screen print from the current Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the UK. It's the most dominant feature on the page. It's proclaiming for all the world to see that herbs are medicine. It's stated as if the claim is unquestionable, as if it's a statement of fact. Of course, it also implies that the MHRA has the right to regulate our access to them. But what's it based on, other than a desire by some people to regulate herbs as medicines? Why Herbs Are Not DrugsThe claim stems from the idea that a substance with any medicinal effect on the human body is a drug. Let's just look at that from the opposite direction. What if we ask what doesn't have a medicinal effect on the human body? Obviously, pharmaceutical drugs do, and so do medicinal herbs. But that's just the beginning. Vitamins have a medicinal effect. So does food. Broccoli is noted for its many health benefits. Carrots benefit the eyes. Blueberries boost the immune system. Chicken soup really does help ease a cold. Are these foods drugs? What about plain old water? Well, too much of it can be quite harmful. It can kill, in fact, because excess water dilutes the blood, resulting in sodium concentration too low to support life. Water is given intravenously to prevent death, a distinctly medical use. Does that make water a drug? If we assume that anything that has a medicinal effect on the human body is a drug, then oxygen must be a drug. Hyperbaric oxygen chambers provide pure oxygen under pressure. It's claimed that it provides medical benefit. Does that make oxygen a drug? The effects of exercise are well known. Exercise changes physiology and improves health. Too much can be harmful and result in injury. Is exercise a drug? The Distinguishing Difference of Pharmaceutical DrugsWhat separates pharmaceutical drugs from herbs? The answer is fairly simple. Pharmaceutical drugs are artificial constructs. They do not come from nature. The fact that nature is often used as an example and source of materials and ideas does not bring pharmaceuticals into the natural world. Pharmaceuticals are new in the world. There is no long history of use; most, in fact, have come into being only within the last few years. During that time, their safety has been shown to be abysmal. For any benefit gained, there are inevitably immense harms inflicted. Indeed, thousands of people die every year directly from the effects of pharmaceuticals—and that doesn't include the thousands, possibly millions, whose lives are debilitated by their effects, such as those who develop diabetes from steroids or cancer from antibiotics. Any resemblance between pharmaceutical drugs and medicinal herbs is tenuous at best. Yet, we're facing the specter of losing our access to medicinal herbs based on this specious argument. The Dangerous RoadOnce we've started down this path of redefining everyday things as drugs, where does it end? And who benefits? What we now have is so-called authorities redefining terms so that they encompass more and more things to regulate. Once under regulation, it becomes possible to deny things to people—and to hand them over to a select few for profits. So, redefining herbs as drugs grants the ability of a select few in official positions to expand the area of their authority, and therefore, their power. It also moves things that had been commonly preparable and saleable by a great many people into the hands of a tiny elite, who then have the ability to reap enormous profits with a virtual monopoly. So, now we have the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive, which is removing natural products that people have used safely and effectively for as long as there have been people on earth. A public media campaign was enacted to convince as many as possible that these products are dangerous, and therefore it's necessary to regulate them as drugs to protect us. However, when we step back and look at the whole picture, the absurdity becomes apparent. We, the people, have been conned and subdued into accepting utter nonsense as truth. If a herb can be regulated as a medicine, then there is no reason that exercise can't be, too. I'd like to be able to say that it's possible to regulate food as medicine—but it's already the case! Asparagus, parsley, and peppermint are already listed as medicines under the new regime. At what point will people step back and say, "No more! This must stop! We want our rights back!" We've not only taken a wrong fork, we've followed far down the path to the loss of our most basic rights. We've allowed the powers-that-be to turn us into nothing more than consumers. And isn't that another interesting redefinition? No longer are we human beings, with all the emotions, needs, and individuality that term implies. Now, we are first and foremost consumers, mindless beings existing for the sole purpose of feeding the corporate maw with wealth and, in return, taking taking whatever junk they toss our way. This is the world of 1984, the one that George Orwell warned us about. We follow the lead of the self-styled authorities blindly, losing even what it means to be a human being. ***************************************************************************** *****************************************************************************
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