Neither the Pit or the Herbs were ever mentioned in the show before. Allusion, hints, easter eggs, none of that actually means a Lazurus Pit exists until the show says it does.
Now stop with the silly "my preferred made up thing is better than their preferred made up thing."
But it's fun!
Both the herbs and the Lazurus Pit may not have been stated/shown/existed in the series before, but the very existence of Mirakuru and and Omega serum allows them to be used in the speculation debate.
Personally, I'll judge the show on Oliver's recovery after the season ends instead of judging prematurely since the show's track record has been mostly positive when it comes to twists. But speculation is part of the fun and shouldn't be discredited especially when the show has given us hints to both sides (regardless of which explanation "makes more sense")
In regards to the healing herbs...
All of season 1 was him pulling out herbs from the island that was THE cure-all for any ailment. It wouldn't be farfetched that an ancient group of ninja assassins would have the same herbs or something even more powerful on top of any poisonous or other deadly herbs they may have in their possession. Who's to say they didn't get their hand on some Mirakuru with everyone and their DJ turning up as a spy. I'm still waiting for a scientist in Central City to be revealed as a League member.
In regards to The Lazurus Pit...
Sometimes being subtle is a nice way to foreshadow, than hitting someone over the head with a statement that would be totally obvious. We aren't kids that need everything telegraphed in big bold words. Ra's saying its "been 67 years since a man challenged me" tells us there is something going on with his mortality that is far from the norm. And although this is the Tv-verse, If your familiar with comic/animation cannon, Ra's character and the Lazurus Pit are one in the same (if you are doing it right). If the writers don't explain Ra's longevity than it will be the biggest copout in the series.
The beginning of the season told us one thing only to surprise us later on. Canary's killer, DJ Douche, Ra's, Laurel, etc.. have played with our expectations and have paid off in some way, even when we were expecting the worst. We still don't know the full story of Masao and his wife. Much like Canary's killer, we can pretty much guess what happened, but like everything else that's been setup, the way that it's been or will be revealed may pleasantly surprise us.
Again, I hope they explain Ollie's recovery, rather than it being the typical 80-90's explanation of "walk it off". But I'll wait til the season ends and we find out why Masao needed to call his wife to do something he could have done on his own, before I call Ollie's recovery total BS ( and the second biggest copout in the series)!!
