Preserving Plant Medicine

by Sarah Mejia

The medicinal practices of a community are representative of their philosophy towards healing. Examining how these philosophies have evolved and endured over time gives us insight into the culture they stem from. When considering Indigenous communities throughout Latin America, biodiverse regions and respect for nature are highly correlated with organized methods of herbal and spiritual healing.

These beliefs directly contradicted the Westernized approach to medicine which was introduced to the Americas by colonizers, which prioritized a Christian and physical understanding of illness. By delegitimizing the Indigenous approach towards health, colonizers asserted control and power over these populations.

A prominent example of such a philosophical debate is demonstrated through the writings of Juan de Cárdenas who was a Spaniard physician living in the Americas in the 16th century. In his book titled “Problemas y secretos maravillosos de las Indias,” published in 1591, de Cárdenas equates herbal medicine to witchcraft, paying special attention to plants containing psychoactive properties.

De Cárdenas explains that “Esto natural es al medicamento frigidísimo hacerlo, pero que mediante la yerba se hagan las brujas invisibles y que se vayan en un momento por todo el mundo y que penetren los cuerpos y tornen a volver al lugar do salieron, todo esto se ha de presumir antes ser por arte del demonio que por virtud que haya en la yerba.”1 Translated loosely, de Cárdenas relays to Spaniards that the psychoactive effects experienced by the person who ingested the herbal medicine (who he refers to as a witch) is induced “by the art of the devil.” These effects, then, are created by the witch, whereas prior to being consumed, the herb had “virtue.”

De Cárdenas also states that “Con mal fin usa de dichas yerbas, como lo usan algunos indios e indias que llaman hechiceras, porque como estos tales sólo toman a fin de ver al demonio y saber cosas que no sabían, a estos tales permite Dios que se les represente el demonio y les declare lo que les estaría mejor no saber. Pero como digo, esto no es ya por virtud de la yerba, pues excede sus límites.” Again referring to someone who has ingested a psychoactive plant, de Cárdenas concludes that God must have allowed the Devil to present himself to the “witch” because no herb in itself could induce this type of effect.

By mixing theology into his analysis of herbal medicine, de Cárdenas was able to persuade other colonizers that herbal medicine was anti-Christain and to be avoided for its dangerous effects.

These efforts against herbal healing, while having devastating effects in healthcare access and the allocation of resources to Indigenous communities in the centuries to come, were not entirely successful, as the use of herbal remedies persisted through the generations to come. While such remedies were invented by doctors and healers from Indigenous communities, they were not limited in use to them and remained popular among mestize populations who continued to utilize many of these remedies.

This type of intermix between traditional and modern medicine can be exemplified by Mexico, a country that is composed of approximately 68 different ethnic groups of Indigenous

Peoples.2 Mexico is a populous country housing approximately 130 million people and more than 35 million of these people lack access to healthcare services, according to Statista.3

Carlos Zolla explores this dynamic between the need for medical attention and the lack of such resources in his article Traditional medicine in Latin America, with particular reference to Mexico. Zolla argues that since these Westernized medical centers are inaccessible to many, “the existence of a widespread traditional medicine, supported mainly by the use of medicinal plants, represents a therapeutic alternative which has its basis in the knowledge gained from ancestral popular experience.”4

Zolla continues “The most frequent therapeutic alternative in Mexico, as in Latin America, is the use of herbal medicine before people can reach official medical attention.” Clearly, herbal medicine has not only been preserved because of cultural beliefs but also due to its accessibility as compared to its Western alternative.

Even in places outside of Latin America, there is a renewed respect for herbal medicine. Recently there has been an emphasis on extracting properties from plants native to an area to treat the diseases unique to that region. One example of this is the research being conducted on leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease caused by sandflies in the tropics and subtropics.

In the article “The Potential of Traditional Knowledge to Develop Effective Medicines for the Treatment of Leishmaniasis,” Luiz Felipe D. Passero acknowledges that (1) there are few options for treating this disease and (2) the people most vulnerable to contracting it have limited access to hospitals. This means that these patients must “use local natural products as alternative medicines to treat this infectious disease.”5 Now, his work is focused on researching which plants are being used to treat leishmaniasis with the hope that this can reveal common properties found among the various herbal remedies to eventually extract such a property and create distributable medication.

2 IWGIA. n.d. “Indigenous peoples in Mexico.” IWGIA. https://www.iwgia.org/en/mexico.html.

3 Mendoza, J. 2022. “Number of people without access to health services in Mexico 2020.” Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1042175/mexico-numberpopulation-lack-access-health-services/.

4 Zolla, Carlos. 2002. “Traditional Medicine in Latn America, with Particular Reference to Mexico.” Journal of Ethnopharmacology. https://www.sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/0378874180900288.

To ensure the preservation of herbal medicines, efforts are being made to grow such plants in sanctuaries, one example being the Orito IngiAnde Medicinal Flora Sanctuary. In 2008, the Colombian government sectioned off 26,565 acres of the Amazon rainforest rich in plants used by Indigenous Peoples in traditional medicinal and cultural practices to protect this natural resource.6

The Belize Association of Traditional Healers, in collaboration with the Belizean government, has managed to create a 6,000 acre reserve called the Terra Nova Forest Reserve.7 This sanctuary is meant to protect the plants used by traditional healers from the negative effects of deforestation and to encourage scientific research into the medicinal properties of the plants being grown.

The creation of sanctuaries within the last couple of decades has helped to protect biodiversity, increase the amount of research on herbal remedies, preserve cultural practices, and save the lives of the millions of people dependent on such treatments. Traditional medicinal practices have been successful in overcoming the challenges it has faced throughout the centuries, proving itself to be resilient against opposition.

5 Passero, Luiz Felipe D. 2021. “The Potential of Traditional Knowledge to Develop Effective Medicines for the Treatment of Leishmaniasis.” Frontiers in pharmacology 12 (Jun). 10.3389/fphar.2021.690432.

6 Selibas, Dimitri. 2022. “Indigenous communities in Colombia’s Amazon move closer to self-governance.” Mongabay. https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/ indigenous-communities-in-colombias-amazon-move-closer-to-self-governance/.

7 Dold, Catherine. 1994. “Medicinal Plants Get Sanctuary in Rain Forest.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/19/archives/medicinal-plantsget-sanctuary-in-rain-forest.html.