Defending Herbal Medicines from Health Canada and the World Disease Agenda - An Interview with Yarrow Willard

Herbalism As Activism - Stories of healing, justice, resistance and change

In this episode...

I interview my friend Yarrow Willard. Yarrow is a co-founder of Harmonic Arts Botanical Dispensary based out of Courtenay, BC

He’s also a co-founder of the Vancouver Island Herb Gathering, now the largest herb gathering in Canada.

“yes , we need to get up and fight this. We also can’t live in fear… that’s just going to put us into a shellshocked state. If we’re going to see the change we want to see in the world, we need to be strategic about how we spend out energy and time… not get too frantic and overwhelmed by this stuff cuz that easily happens."

In the interview we start and end by talking about a very important issue for everyone who wants to be able to buy herbs in Canada. In Sept. 2016 Health Canada proposed some changes to the regulations that cover which herbs are available on store shelves.

It may not seem like a terribly radical topic, but this legislation is the sign of things to come. The Pharmaceutical and Nutraceutical industry is trying to limit our personal and collective health sovereignty.

The interview also bounces around a little. We hit topics like the Dangers of high concentration single constituents extractions, personal connection to the land, colonialism, and the global disease industry.

I hope you enjoy it…