Naturopathic medicine is a health care system aimed at treating the whole person and is based on non-toxic/non-invasive healing methods. Naturopathic medicine uses modalities such as: nutrition, herbs, homeopathy and counseling. Naturopathic doctors who have gone to an accredited, four-year school are trained to be experts in natural medicine.

Right now, 12 states are licensed for naturopathic medicine in the United States. The reason a state may want to be licensed is to protect the public by allowing only qualified naturopathic doctors to practice. The opposition is concerned mainly about scope of practice. In March a bill that would allow licensure to naturopaths passed the Senate, a vote of 38-2, but is currently being held up in the House of Representatives.

Recently Gary Boston, chairman of the health committee, drafted a new bill that would register instead of license naturopathic doctors. This means a naturopathic doctor would have to practice under the supervision of medical doctors instead of being independently licensed. This is unprecedented as none of the other 12 licensed states have chosen supervised registration.

Considering the increased usage of natural medicine, the general public is protected by having any new health care provider be held accountable to their credentials, and actions through licensure.

Kabran Chapek,

Lawrence