Edzard Ernst, the first Professor of Complementary Medicine in the United Kingdom, talking about homeopathy and the ethics of pharmacists selling homeopathic products:


It does seem pretty clearly settled now that homeopathy doesn't work. It's worth noting though that some products marked as homeopathic actually have been known to contain active ingredients, and I wonder whether they might sometimes work. (Wikipedia notes poisoning cases from homeopathic remedies - not quite the desired effects, but they show that low levels of dilution have been used at times.)

Years ago, my dog had a plea allergy, and a fellow dog-owner, and health shop manager, suggested homeopathic drops that he said worked for many people's dogs. Worth a shot, I thought. And I was convinced that they worked - my poor mutt was scratching much less, I thought. At the time I had no idea what homeopathy really meant, let alone that the science would come down conclusively against homeopathy years later. I hindsight, either the itching improved coincidentally, or I imagined the improvement, or there really was some active ingredient that did something. That last option now seems like a long shot.