Herbs are still used in many developing countries as a mainstay of indigenous medical systems, where commercial pharmaceutical drugs are often expensive, or difficult to source and where people themselves have not grown so far away from their environments as perhaps western societies have. We have to take care that this does not (in our eyes) gainsay the effectiveness of ethnic herbal medicine, and in consequence we should not patronisingly consign this to a rather lowly 'folk tradition' or equation with quaint superstitions, without any acknowledgement of the real potential and real efficacy of many of these long used medicinal plants. Additionally, we should remember own herbal traditions (still strong, although less well used) as this is as vibrant and useful as that of any other country.
I rather lose patience with people who question the overall therapeutic nature of plants, as though they do indeed belong to an era of irrationality and superstition. Granted, not all have the scientific backing that some phamaceuticals have, but research into herbs often lacks the (very) significant investment (millions of dollars) that their commercial rivals can benefit from. Nevertheless the number of of important therapeutic agents that have been incorporated into mainstream medicine that are derived from plants, at least intially, is impressive. Also many plant derived constituents are still the leads for research into synthetically produced drugs.
Despite the perceived archaic nature of herbal medicine, herbs do still have a place in our medicinal systems today, as they can be a good source of novel bioactive compounds and therapeutic agents, only a fraction of which have been explored and elucidated. Although all herbs need to be used with some amount of caution and expertise, their importance is growing, even in this modern era of big pharmaceutical companies, as people seek out more 'natural' alternatives to commercial drugs, alternatives that are (arguably) less expensive and often have fewer toxic side effects (Saiket et al.).
References
Saiket, S., Chackraborty, R., Bip=llab, D. Challenges and opportunities in the advancement of herbal medicine: India's position and role in a global context. Journal of Herbal Medicine, (1) 2011 pp 67-75.
Catherine Schofield Medical Herbalist Cheshire Herbs and Herbal Medicine