As herbs become more popular there are more and more companies trying to capitalize on the market boom often providing brief (and usually inaccurate) information pertaining to how their herbal products may be used. Likewise the media coverage of the recent resurgence of interest in herbs has not offered much help to the average person wanting to learn more about herbal medicine. I believe this to be due to the media's own lack of knowing where to go for reliable information (when I speak of reliable information I mean information about botanical therapeutics that comes from people who are experienced in the clinical applications of such medicines). The goal of this web page is to empower you with information from reliable sources so that you can make a well informed decision about how herbal medicine can and/or will fit into your life.

With that said I would like to point out that herbal medicine is a vastly complex discipline that most practitioners spend years studying before they ever work with a client. There are many pitfalls that someone who is not knowledgeable about herbs can fall into. These include obtaining preparations that are inappropriate for that persons needs, taking herbs that are harmful (or sometimes fatal), spending money on preparations that are fraudulent, and unknowingly supporting the decimation of some plants in the wild due to buying a product from a company that does not practice ethical harvesting techniques. I do not recommend the use of information on this page or anywhere else to determine what herbs to use for your self or for others. I recommend seeking out a trained professional such as a Western herbalist or a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine if you want to use herbal medicine.

SFBMC is also committed to working in association with clinical herbalists in San Francisco, the greater Bay Area and beyond. We feel that our community is best served when the herbal medicine community is strong and connected. Indeed, we see it as the clinical herbalist's responsibility to keep those connections strong.