Quoted message said:Apparently the State of California's legislature late in 2003 passed a licensing law, whereby only
graduates of the three accredited 4-year Naturopathic schools in the US & maybe one or two in
Canada can be licensed in the State by passing a board examination. The current naturopaths who are
not graduates of those accredited schools can continue to practice, but apparently no longer can
use the title "N.D.", as in "Doctor". Additionally, pursuant to the new law, the newly licensed
"Naturopathic Doctors" are now allowed to do certain additional things in their practice that the
"Naturopaths" cannot, such as very minor "surgery", etc. Apparently, relatively few practicing
N.D.'s qualify for licensing in California as, at least educationally, they don't meet the new
law's requirements.
I also found that only 13 states plus a couple of U.S. Territories have licensing laws for
Naturopaths, but I don't know how similar they are to California.
This makes me curious as to what kind of professional education one would run into if it wasn't
from one of the few accredited schools. What is the "norm"?
Kathy, there are two main types that represent the "Norm" outside of the few 4 year graduates. The
first are people who think like Chuck, aka DrCEEPhD. They read a few things about auto-toxicity,
failure/corruption/personal misconduction in some aspect of healthcare, and decide that the old ways
were right and the new ways are a conspiracy. They root their beliefs in stuff from the "golden age"
of medicine, the 1800's.
The second group are a bunch of people who got a mail order degree from a church affliated group.
Their doctrine is not as conspiracy based, but their methods aren't too far apart from them.
Their diagnostic methods range from iridology, muscle testing (applied kinesiology), aura diagnosis
(kirlian photography), palpation, tongue/pulse readings, and galvanic skin response. Their treatment
methods usually include some sort of supplements (vitamins, amino acids, or some "nutraceutical"😉,
some sort of cleanse (colon, liver, kidey, lung, lymph), some sort of dietary recomendation (don't
eat X, eat more of Y, don't eat X & Z together), and of course Zappers, Rife Machines, Colonics,
homeopathics, herbal formulas, affirmations/mantras.
In some cases, you may find someone with a good combination of Massage/Chiropractic/Physical therapy
along with some practical nutrition and exercise advice. In most cases, you'll get someone whose
practice is rooted in old belief systems and not aligned with science. The advice can range from
silly (don't use fluorescent lights) to pernicious (vaccines don't work, viruses don't cause
disease, etc).
The norm is very inconsistent and quite frankly, scarily dangerous.
