The herb industry is now geared towards this form of herbs more than any other. Simply put, a standardized herb is a plant, which has been submitted to a number of lengthy and often expensive extraction processes in order to capture its full essential chemical benefits, but to leave off some of the less important features such as fiber. Once it has become standardized, such an herb is far more potent than in its regular form. This means that less is required for the same identical purpose. As a result the body doesn't need so much of it and natural resources are spared unnecessary harvesting of larger amounts to accomplish the same thing.
Standardization is the present and future way for the herb industry and herbal treatment in general.
Herbs will never fully replace drugs but they can and do serve as useful adjuncts in the overall health care process. This means that they complement or are an integral part of regular medical care and prescription drugs. It is in this type of setting that herbs should be properly considered instead of just by themselves. As for someone like myself, who was born at home and grew up in a constant environment of folk healing as formerly practiced by my aged Hungarian grandmother, then such herbal remedies become the sole choice of treatment. There are cultures in which herbal remedies abound on a continuous basis, such as African-American, Hispanic, Chinese, and Native American.