Ethnobotanicals; Ethneogens

What do you think of ethneogens? They are plants that are used by different cultures for different purposes like to heal ailments, use as something for practical living, and for insightful shamanic purposes. They are all natural, nothing synthetic.
Ethneogens can be as common as common oregano, and as exotic as salvia divinorum or guava leaves.

What are your thoughts?

I think a lot of them are legit, but others (particularily in the developed world where that stuff is a fad and people generally are not educated about them) are shams.
They should be tested and scientifically proven, and labelled, like drugs, but unless they are found to be harmful, they should not be regulated.

Some plants are very valuable for their medicinal properties. If you go through your medicine cabinet and read the labels, you can find plants with the exact same chemicals in them. Our pills are just a more concentrated dosage. As for the insightful shamanic purposes, those just get you high.

As for the fad, I believe that most of it is a scam. People put their hopes in these scams, and when they get better with their own immune system, lots of them believe it was the "medicine". Some of it is legit, but you really need to be educated to find them.

Wandering_Soul:

Some plants are very valuable for their medicinal properties. If you go through your medicine cabinet and read the labels, you can find plants with the exact same chemicals in them. Our pills are just a more concentrated dosage. As for the insightful shamanic purposes, those just get you high.

As for the fad, I believe that most of it is a scam. People put their hopes in these scams, and when they get better with their own immune system, lots of them believe it was the "medicine". Some of it is legit, but you really need to be educated to find them.

Even though that may be true with some "insightful" ethneogens, there's still things like those that are embedded in people's cultures. There are some things out there that shamans use for rituals that don't get people high. For example, the xhosa tribes in the eastern cape of south africa ingest a root in their rituals that supposedly induces vivid dreams. As I recall, it may have even been mentioned on that show "supernatural" at some point.