[Extracted]

I believe it does based on what I've read.  When I first posted, I think I misunderstood what was happening.  I later realized that they are doing an acid/base extraction, I think.

Here is a list of the basic steps acquired from a study that already did it:

Plant material extracted into alcohol.  
Alcohol is evaporated leaving crude extract with a bunch of junk + alkaloids.
That extract is dissolved in acetic acid/water mix.  
Acidic mix is washed with pet ether
At this point, I'm assuming a separatory funnel is used and the pet ether layer is discarded.
Remaining acidic solution is then made alkaline to a specific PH.
solution is then extracted with chloroform (once again I think sep. funnel is used and only chloro layer is kept)
chloroform mix is washed with water
water is removed (via drying agent)
chloroform is evaporated leaving all alkaloid salts.

From here, a column chrom. would be used to further isolate/examine.

Thoughts?

OK then lets just talk about your published procedure.  This a pretty typical amine purification procedure.  First thing you need to do is obtain a standard sample of the alkaloid of interest and develop a quick procedure to identify it in a typical extract sample.  I would recommend tlc on silica with fluorescent binder if the alkaloid has a chromophore.  If it doesn't have a chromophore you will need to determine which type of stain you will use for visualization.  Iodine or ninhydrin or basic KMnO4 or H2SO4 char might be needed.  Once you have that you can begin the research.
It's likely the published procedure works but you need to qualitatively determine purity with the tlc.  

 I can't  stress enough the importance of becoming proficient with the tlc method you settle on.  It would also be helpful to pray to whatever god answers your prayers for a nice chromophore!  UV visualization is really a time saver and much safer than just about all of the alternatives.

I would also try to use safer solvents like ethyl acetate rather than chloroform which means a little development effort for you.  If money is a concern and you think you will be competing with 'crude extracts' in the marketplace then you can just forget about purifying on a column of any type.  Column purification is time, solvent and equipment intensive.  You will likely only get small amounts of pure compound and pay dearly for it.  Now if you are isolating a cure for cancer, you might be fine but if you are isolating some green coffee bean extract, it likely isn't worth it.