Herbal medicine in the treatment of addictions.

The use of herbal medicine goes back thousands of years. Although there have been sporadic claims about its use in the treatment of addictions, specific evidence of its efficacy is hard to find. With that in mind, an international expert group was convened to examine issues such as efficacy, safety, usefulness, toxicity and side effects of the herbal substances in the treatment of addictions This project brought together, for the first time, a group of international experts to consider a number of areas of interest, including existing evidence, lessons learnt from herbal medicine in other health conditions, gaps in knowledge and opportunities for future developmen