ADVANTAGES

Herbal medicines can treat minor conditions like scrapes, rashes and burns. They can also be used to treat migraines, arthritis and depression (University of New Hampshire) at a very low cost. The cost  of herbal medicines are very low compared to pharmaceutical drugs because they can be found in local supermarkets or grown at home. According to Christopher Golden from Harvard University Center for the Environment, if people used herbal medicines in place of pharmaceuticals, they could save themselves 22-63% of what they spend on healthcare annually. Herbal medicine can also be found in everyday foods such as ginger, garlic and rhubarb.

 

DISADVANTAGES

Herbal Medicines may come with many advantages. But, it also comes with a set of disadvantages as well. For one, herbal medicines take a longer time to work compared to pharmaceutical drugs. If an individual decides to take the herbal alternative to pharmaceuticals, he or she must be very patient.

Herbal medicines are often self administered. As a result, there is no dosage or warnings specified. When Herbal medicines are consumed with pharmaceutical drugs,  the two can interact with each other resulting in injuries to health.

It is also important to know that plants used as a herbal medicine may poison rather than cure someone. It may be the case where a certain part of  a plant may be edible and another part may be poisonous. Take rhubarb for example. The roots of rhubarb is used as a laxative and the stem is edible. However, its leaves are poisonous. An individual may not be able to identify a poisonous plant. This would put the individual at the risk of poisoning themselves or others.