“In the late 1960s, all my friends were interested in one weed (cannabis), and I was interested in all the others,” he likes to say. “There were few good texts on the subject, no schools of herbal medicine, few herbal products, and significant issues of quality control, botanical identification, and little research.”
“A true renaissance of herbal medicine”
Flash forward 54 years, and Winston points to the exponential growth of high-quality herbal medicine companies, schools, products, research, and organizations.
“There has been a veritable renaissance of herbal medicine in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, countries whose herbal traditions were in steep decline for most of the 20ecentury,”He said, noting that demand in China, India, Japan, Germany, Iran and South Korea had also increased.
Its own herbal library has become one of the largest in the United States with over 8,000 volumes, and the David Winston Center for Herbal Studies has trained thousands of students in the art and science of herbal medicine. clinic since 1980. He was recently honored by the American Herbalists Guild for 32 years of service as chair and co-founder of the AHG Admissions Review Advisory Committee, alongside longest serving colleagues Christopher Hobbs and Michael Tierra.
“David deserves huge credit for adding his energy, passion, wisdom and knowledge to help grow the AHG into the many incredible professional members we have today,”said Hobbs. “He held to the highest standards while encouraging us to invite and review herbalists from different backgrounds, confirming our diversity, one of the guild’s greatest achievements.”
Even as the sophistication, ingenuity and availability of herbal products continue to grow and find favor with the public, Winston said herbal medicine for the most part has not.
“What I mean by that is that Americans have been used for generations to a medical system that treats disease: take that medicine or that herb for that disease or disease.” he said.
Word to the western herb industry
In traditional herbal systems, healers focus on the person rather than the disease, matching their energy picture and symptoms to the energetics of the herbs being used. They rarely prescribe individual herbs specific to a condition, but find synergistic combinations that increase potency and effectiveness.
“The Western herbal industry could greatly benefit from working closely with qualified herbalists – a situation still uncommon – who are trained in systems such as traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, Unani-tibb, Kampo, Jamu and physiomedicalism”,said Winston, who is steeped in Chinese, Western/eclectic and Cherokee herbal traditions.
“The synergistic effect is why products formulated by herbalists are more effective than those formulated without proper training.. There are many new products and technologies out there, but in many cases the traditional forms of herbs (teas, tinctures, solid extracts, etc.) still work the best and produce the most impressive results..”
His company Herbalist & Alchemist, founded in 1982 and currently expanding into a larger facility in Washington, NJ, works with a core of approximately 300 herbs to produce full-spectrum extracts through spagyric alchemy to preserve potency. in minerals. The formulas are rooted in base combinations that have been shown to be clinically effective for a specific condition – such as dandelion root, orange peel, angelica and artichoke to improve digestive function or ashwagandha, linden, milky oats, reishi and schisandra to balance stress.
Future prospects: rarity and culture
Traditionally, herbs are harvested from the wild, but demand has increased and the effects of climate change and habitat loss present sustainability and supply chain challenges in a changing landscape.
“Many herbs that were once common are no longer available on the market, or have become rare, expensive, or adulterated.”said Winston. “I believe organic farming is where we need to focus our attention. As herbs become more popular, the making of many wild herbs is simply not sustainable.
Some things to keep in mind: the difficulty of replicating certain growing conditions found in nature, the effects of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides on healing properties, and the increasing complexity of ethical sourcing.
Meanwhile, overharvesting continues to put herbs on sustainability watch lists. United Plant Savers, which promotes the preservation of native North American medicinal plants, lists elephant tree, false unicorn, slipper orchid, peyote, sandalwood, sundew, trillium, and trap Venus Flytrap as Critically Endangered and over 30 other plants at risk. Commercial culture of others like Rhodiola roseawas just added to the CITES list of potentially threatened species, is expanding.
“If we can find ways to grow these herbs sustainably and successfully, we can continue to use them.” said Winston. Otherwise, we have to look for easily cultivable or aggressive weed analogues that can replace them. Just as the industry has naturally moved away from the lady’s slipper over the past 40 years, we must carefully consider which plants can thrive or with our help and which need our protection.
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