On this page:

Why All Drugs Should Be Legalized
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=04/12/30/8678118

...is this statement (bottom paragraph of article):

..."There are a lot of natural ?miracle drugs throughout the world
that have been banned from further study and experimentation in the
USA because they are deemed illegal. One such drug is ibogaine, a root
from Africa that when taken causes hallucinations and the individual
to loose their cravings for other drugs such as heroin, cocaine,
marijuana, alcohol, and prescription drugs for weeks, months, years,
and forever. Thus, this root from Africa may hold the cure to
addiction, yet its research is being banned in the USA because of the
extreme hallucinations it causes.

The medicine cabinet of natural remedies that await discovery
throughout the world, especially in the Amazon rainforest is amazing,
yet until these rigid laws regarding drugs are broken down, scientists
who wish to study ibogaine or addicts who wish to try it must travel
outside of the USA, to one of their two neighbors: the Provinces of
Canada or the United States of Mexico..."


My question is, what are some other examples of possible "miracle drugs/plants?

I don't need details, I'll surf for the details myself, I'm trying to
find a list of such plants/drugs...

Thanks in advance...

---

Request for Question Clarification by librariankt-ga on 04 Jan 2005 18:58 PST

Hi Cynthia -

Are you looking for natural products that have been banned, or just a
list of possible plant-based drugs?  The latter is pretty easy - the
former is harder.

How's this for an example:
http://www.sciam.com/page.cfm?section=sidebar&articleID=000DE779-9600-1C75-9B81809EC588EF21

- Librariankt

---

Clarification of Question by cynthia-ga on 04 Jan 2005 22:57 PST

Primarily Plants, but if you run across something else that looks
interesting in your search I would appreciate you passing it along.

I am looking for plants similar to Ibogaine.  Ibogaine is a shrub that
takes 4 years to mature before the root is harvested, which is a main
reason it is not well known, or a drug of abuse here in the US. 
Ibogaine has sbeen used for centuries in 'rite of passage' ceremonies
by tribesmen in Africa.

I'm sure there are other plants in Africa aand elsewhere, used by
tribespeople that have interesting medicinal and/or and mystical
properties.  One example would be peyote.

Thanks for your interest.

~~Cynthia

---

Clarification of Question by cynthia-ga on 04 Jan 2005 23:00 PST

Graviola is another excellent example -- Thanks byrd!!

Fascinating!

Hi Cynthia,

One plant I've recently heard about via a health newsletter I receive
is called Graviola, an Amazon plant that apparently has the kinds of
miraculous properties you're talking about, and was supposedly dropped
from research when it became apparent that it was not going to be
possible (read: profitable) to extract or synthesize any one compound
from it, but that rather the whole plant was needed to effect the
'miracles.' I haven't researched it a whole lot yet myself, but I'm
very interested in this subject and do intend to look into it further
when I get some extra time.

In the meantime, here are a few links for you about it:
Health Sciences Institute homepage:
http://www.hsibaltimore.com/hsiindex.shtml (you can sign up for
e-alerts and newsletter here)

Well, I was going to link to the copy of the e-alert I got, but it
doesn't seem to be on the website. Rather than post the whole thing,
here's a link instead to an ad for the company's membership, but the
copy states most of what was stated in the e-alert I received:
http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/hsi/W6HSE990/home.cfm#more 

Here's some more info on graviola:
http://www.rain-tree.com/graviola.htm  

Thanks for a fascinating question! Wish I had time to work on it
myself, but I'll be watching to see what turns up.  Good luck!

Byrd

Hi Cynthia,

Glad you found the info on graviola interesting/useful.

Been cogitating a bit more on your question, and y'know, I do believe
the herb ephedra belongs on your list. This extrememly useful herb, as
you likely already know, was banned in the U.S. by the FDA last April,
under the erroneous assumption that it is somehow dangerous.

The problem lies with the (deliberately fostered) misperception that
the whole herb ephedra is synonymous with one of the alkaloids that
can be extracted from it, or the pharmacological (and synthetic)
version of that alkaloid, namely ephedrine. Of course, that is
completely untrue, though many people now believe it, unfortunately.

Ephedrine, and a related alkaloid, pseudoephedrine, both of which are
found as components of ephedra, are used in quite a number of patent
medicines, and as single compounds are both far more pronounced in
their effects, and nowhere close to being as safe as the whole herb,
ephedra. Moreover, there are many species of ephedra (the whole herb),
of which the one most commonly used for medicinal purposes is the
Chinese species Ma Huang, or "ephedra sinica," sometimes called also
"ephedra sinensis."  To lump them all together as synonyms for
"ephedrine" is not only ignorant, it's stupid.  Yet even some herbal
sites talking about ephedra will slip, and talk about effects of
ephedrine instead.

Of course, any substance, natural, whole or otherwise, can be abused
if it is clearly overused or wrongly used, which may have happened on
occasion in the case of ephedra. It does have some stimulant
properties in its natural form, but taken in recommended amounts at
recommended intervals, it's been used safely for over five thousand
years, and there is no reason it can't still be - well, no reason
except that it can't be patented.

And there, I suppose, is why there's no real mystery about how this
useful herb came to be so villified and ultimately banned. As your
question itself indicates, there are quite a few natural herbs and
medicines that have been so banned in the U.S.  This is just one more.
So if you'd like to add it to your list, here are a few of the more
objective resources I've found for info about it, though even these
are not all truly objective, nor careful to differentiate the whole
herb from its derivatives:

http://www.kcweb.com/herb/ephedra.htm
http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/faqs/medi-2-19-ma-huang.html
http://www.chinese-herbs.org/ephedra/side-effects.html

Good luck on finding more. I'm sure it's out there, but will likely be
difficult to find.

Cheers,
Byrd

Thanks Again byrd! Ephedra definitely belongs on the list.

I believe Laetrile belongs on the list as well.

The Ultimate Cancer Conspiracy; Vitamin B17 and Laetrile
http://www.sumeria.net/health/laetrile.html

Yes I agree. B-17 was being used to cure cancer until our wonderful
powers to be, put a stop to it. http://www.vitaminb17.org/  Great book
on it: World Without Cancer : The Story of Vitamin B17