In article ,
Dave Poole wrote:
On Mon, 9 Aug 2004 19:32:46 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:

All this messing about with raw plant material is either
pointless or dangerous.

Or .... excessively stupid! Get a grip for goodness sake - without
proper knowledge you can kill yourself by self medication. True, Aloe
vera will not see you off, but without the right doseage, it can make
you feel so ill that you wish you were dead!!!

Interesting.

Actually, some of the safest medicinal plants are the most illegal.
You will find it very hard to harm yourself by the use of raw Cannabis
sativa, Papaver somniferum and so on. But you may well get locked
up in the clink :-)

Don't, however, even think of using many of the standard medicinal
herbs naively, such as Atropa belladonna, Aconitum napellus or
Digitalis purpurea. A slight overdose and bye, bye, birdie.

Care is needed even with common culinary herbs when used in medicinal
quantities - thymol is a good antiseptic, but can cause quite a lot
of problems.



Regards,
Nick Maclaren.