Grow Your Own Drugs: Easy Recipes for Natural Remedies and Beauty Fixes

Grow Your Own Drugs is filled with (mostly) easy to make recipes–all from natural ingredients that are readily available. The book is also beautiful to look through, making it more likely you will feel motivated to actually try many of the recipes. The book covers beauty recipes, and recipes to make you feel better or cure what ails you.

I have been waiting for this book to be available in the States, as a friend from the UK had been raving about it.

I already use (almost) only natural/organic beauty products and drugs, but look forward to replacing some store-bought with home made. Furthermore, I cook from scratch and make most of my cleaning products from scratch. Finally, I do use essential oils and flower essences to help alter my moods and for medicinal purposes–and they work. (For example, lavender is calming, tea tree for blemishes, etc.) So, Grow Your Own Drugs this is a natural step forward for me.

I also like that the author, James Wong, is a scientists who has also studied the properties of plants around the world–this is no hobbyist! (As someone who has dabbled with the property of plants, I recognize many of the cures as those that are well established.) So, I feel comfortable will his advice and recipes.

A quick look shows me that I already have many ingredients necessary to get me started on making several recipes, including one for inflammation, sore throats and for the upcoming season–bee stings.

Highly recommend.

Author of HARMONIOUS ENVIRONMENT.
Rating: 5 / 5

This is a pleasant, nicely illustrated book which lists alleged uses of plants as natural remedies for various complaints, and also has a section organized by plant species, with a bit of description for each. On the surface, a lovely resource. But books like this, “herbals,” have appeared from the fifteenth century onward. What about the reliability of the information, which we should expect to be better than it was 500 years ago? We live in a time when there is a great attraction to natural versus synthetic chemical drugs. Unfortunately I found this book panders to that impulse rather than giving a balanced education.

There is no doubt of the reality of ethnobotany. Many modern pharmaceuticals, including aspirin from willow bark, came to us from traditional sources. On the other hand there is also a great deal of nonsense and bizarre superstition in folk medicine. Too often however – and this makes me a bit crazy – advocates for alternative healing, including this author, tend to be true believers who repeat two logical errors over and over again. The first is the argument that “such-and-such has been used for thousands of years..” OK, leeches for blood-letting have been used for thousands of years – will you be using that one any time soon? The second bogus argument is that ‘natural’ is somehow the same as ‘good for you.’ Absolutely false. Arsensic is natural and was used for centuries as a ‘medical treatment.’ Or how about scopolamine, a natural ingredient found in Henbane, Jimson weed or Datura plants? In tiny doses, used medically for anti-nausea or pupil dilation. In larger doses, severe hallucinations. Natural, a medicine, but extremely dangerous. Nicotine (tobacco) is also used in traditional healing in Native American cultures. No ‘artificial chemicals’ in any of these; they are entirely natural, plant based, and poisonous.

Only objective studies can help us know which plant remedies are effective, and safe. ‘Science’ is not a bad word folks, it just means systematic unbiased testing. The good news is that much such information now exists. There is a respected source called Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database which collects such results. I ordered this book because I hoped that James Wong, who has a TV show in the UK on the healing effects of plants and also holds a graduate degree in ethnobotany, would be a responsible, knowledgeable guide. I was a bit disappointed. This is more a ‘coffee table’ book, mostly pictures and sparse text, than an indepth guide. I also assumed we could count on Wong to tell us about only the safest and best verified cures, together with some meaningful background explanations. Not always. For example Wong tells us that Goji berries and Shiitake mushrooms ‘support the immune system.’ Really? They act against AIDS, H1N1, all known viruses or bacteria? That’s an amazing claim – and readers would like to know exactly how this was established. No discussion in the book. Or, Wong recommends the popular herb Echinacea as a cold remedy – but a Google search shows that a significant number of medical research studies have failed to find consistent proof it works. Even more disturbing, Wong hints that he knows more about the risks than he writes down – for example, some of the remedies have a caution they are not to be used during pregnancy. Why not exactly? If it’s harmful to a fetus, why is it safe for you or me?

To his credit, Wong does give some cautions. In some cases he admits the data is uncertain and gives warnings, even recommending a skin trial before ingesting a new preparation. He also is clear about the need to positively identify plants and distinguish them from toxic look-alikes. But these cautions tend to be in fine print, as if dictated by the publisher’s lawyers, whereas the effect of a big picture book is to encourage a comfort level and self-dosing. Let’s be honest, the publisher is just trying to sell the book, not encourage questions. For example there is little warning that Black Cohosh, Ginkgo Baloba, Saw Palmetto, St. John’s Wort and other common medicinal plants are known to interfere with many prescription medications you might already be using. The book pays lip service to “ask your physician first” but one senses they would just as soon you didn’t.

Bottom line is that identifying plants accurately, harvesting them, evaluating their highly variable potency, preparing the potions, knowing the dosage, what they are good for, the side effects, the long term toxicity, the interactions – a whole lot of knowledge is involved to do this properly. In fact, probably MORE knowledge is required to apply natural plant remedies than an MD needs to prescribe common pharmaceuticals. But the book gives the impression it is easy and you can run out to the back yard and heal yourself, which is misleading and possibly dangerous. I did not expect a biochemical technical treatise, but I hoped for more seriousness from an author who lectures at a university.

Finally the book irritated me in the way it ‘markets’ not only plant cures but also James Wong, no doubt to promote the TV show. He appears in dozens of photos throughout, far too many – Wong smiling, Wong making tea, Wong leaning on a door, Wong lying in the grass – the Martha Stewart of natural healing. Or perhaps Mr. Wong has simply developed a severe case of vanity. My grandmother told me lemongrass tea is good for that.
Rating: 3 / 5

This beautiful book is so easy to navigate, understand and use. There are good references for organic products to purchase to make the recipes in the back of the book. The author is great. I wish they’d used a different word in the title rather than Drugs! I bought this after hearing the author talk about the book either on tv or NPR, can’t remember which…It’s a good book for anyone wanting to make herbal remedies.
Rating: 5 / 5