**2. Forensic botany and herbal drugs forensics**

The study of plants and their role in criminal investigations is referred as 'Forensic botany' [6, 7].

**Forensic Botany** not only involves the examination of botanical evidences present near the victim or at crime scene but also involves the detection of any unwanted material present in the herbal drugs. Though this part is untouched in forensic botany and is considered differently under Ayurveda but whenever and wherever any illegal, intentional or unintentional substitution or adulteration in trade of natural/authentic product comes, forensic science has always a crucial role to play.

A fundamental Ayurvedic philosophy is that 'food is medicine and medicine is food'. According to an Ayurvedic proverb 'When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use; when diet is correct, medicine is of no need'.

Food, the fundamental for the sustenance of life is not unblemished from various malfeasances owing to the adulteration and falsification of food commodity. Not only food but the drugs also are no safer enough to be completely relied upon. The food and the herbal drugs (prepared from the medicinal flora having one or more bioactive constituents) market offer a huge income due to growing population, their needs, consumerism and marketism. The various food products and herbal drugs available in the market are carrying lot of adulterants and counterfeits that are almost impossible for a common man to detect [8–14]. **Herbal drugs forensic** is a branch of forensics and a multidisciplinary science that not only answers the questions as to 'what' and 'how much' related to drug safety and quality issues but also investigates the sources, fate, implications and possibilities related to adulteration, falsification, counterfeiting and substitution in nutraceuticals (the drugs or herbal supplements consumed for extra nutrient intake that is not fulfilled by routine diet) and herbal medicinal drugs.

**177**

*Herbal Drugs Forensic*

very complex.

this gap.

**3. Trade in herbal drugs**

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98253*

try, folk users and growing global markets [15].

trade drugs, their supply sources and others [16].

• United Arab Emirates (100%)

• China (100%)

• India (70%)

to be about 6500 in number [16].

**3.1 Demand and supply position of medicinal plants**

According to National Medicinal Plant Board (NMPB) Report, India's domestic herbal industry (since India being a major exporter of herbal raw drugs) has around 8610 licensed herbal units, thousands of cottage level unregulated herbal units and millions of folk healers and household level users of thousands of herbal raw drugs. Also, the trade web that channelizes various herbal raw drugs from the supply to the end users is very complex. Thus, to have a better understanding of the Market and trade of the sector, we need to focus on demand and supply chains of the medicinal plants. The demand and supply chain of medicinal plants in the country is itself

Presently, medicinal plants are marketed and traded through Mandis and other wholesale markets in India with numerous intermediaries in between. Trade is rather opaque and information on prices, arrivals and other trends are difficult for farmers/growers to access. NMPB has been initiating many steps in order to fill

Another major gap between the demand and supply has emerged due to the commercialization of the production of classical Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani (ASU) formulations that require large quantities of wild harvested, cultivated or imported herbal raw drugs. This has resulted into thriving trade in raw drugs. Because of this, knowledge about the annual consumption levels of the herbal raw drug, the trends in their usage and their trade value is important so that the resources can be managed to ensure sustainable supplies to the herbal drug indus-

India has very strong traditional health care practices that are represented by the classical systems of medicine like Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, and Swa-rigpa. Besides these traditional heath care practices, there exists a very diverse area-specific and community-specific folk healthcare practices. Both the Indian classical system of medicine and the folk health care systems are highly dependent on the raw herbal drug material derived from a diverse species of medicinal plants, which is estimated

NMPB, during 2001–2002, commissioned a study through Centre for Research, Planning and Action (CERPA) to understand annual trade levels of selected 162 medicinal plant species. The NMPB, then in 2006–2007 commissioned a national study that was carried out by Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT) to assess demand and supply of medicinal plants in India which for the first time highlighted various drawbacks in the herbal drug sector and added more to the existing knowledge and understanding of the subject related to the diversity of raw drugs in trade, their botanical correlation, volume of annually

**Figure 1** below shows various Industrial uses of Medicinal Plants [17]. Each of these groups can contain a wide range of products like herbal medicinal products,

Countries where the highest uses of traditional medicines are practiced include [18]:

food supplements or dietary supplements, foodstuffs, Cosmetics, etc.
