IF HERBALIST MICHAEL Johnson is right, the cure to many of the diseases afflicting us may be growing right in our backyards.
Johnson has been a herbalist for the last 10 years and is a member of the British Jamaica Association of Integrated Medicine. He believes that more Jamaicans should look to natural sources for healing and says the way we live and what we eat determine how healthy we will be. "I want to open people's eyes to natural cures so they will be able to save their lives. Too many people are dying unnecessarily."
Growing up "in the country" with his mother who was a midwife, Johnson says he was exposed to the possibilities of herbal treatments. "She [mother] taught us the way of using natural medicine and in 1991, I went to New Orleans to study natural alternative medicine."
Green marijuana, cerasee, coconut milk, apple cider vinegar and rice bitters are among some of the natural healers used commonly by Johnson. He is confident that a daily regimen involving two or three of these can lead to better, healthier lives and suggested that these treatments are key in building the immune system and strengthening the body's resistance.
Johnson says his home remedies have helped several persons overcome diseases and have the potential to "build t-cells (helpers), clean the liver, purify the blood, build the white blood cells and clean the colon."
Michelle Bryan(name changed) has experienced Johnson's treatment first hand and has nothing but high praises for his traditional practices. She told THE STAR that before she consulted Johnson, she had joint pains and a low blood cell count. She added: "After I started taking the medicine, it (the blood-cell count) started to go up and di last time mi go doctor 'im ask mi wha mi tek. 'Im did surprised." She believes that the success of his treatment rests on the fact that he combines it with prayer and reading passages from the Bible. "Now mi put on back weight and mi can move roun now," she said.
When THE STAR spoke with a regular medical doctor, she confirmed that these medications do have some value, saying, "herbal treatments can indeed be curative." She also added that she had tried the herbs in her practice as well.
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