Naturopathic physicians are graduates of four-year accredited naturopathic medical schools recognized by the US Department of Education. Like conventional physicians, they study basic sciences for the first two years. However, NDs spend their last two years in school learning natural therapeutics, focusing on preventing and treating chronic or recurring conditions such as asthma, cardiovascular disease, and colitis as well as acute conditions such as common colds and flus. Some NDs specialize in areas like pediatrics and women's health or concentrate on a type of treatment such as botanical medicine. This is an issue that is clearly in the interest of the consumer.
Patients deserve qualified, competent, safe choices for their personal health care.
California has fallen behind the rest of the country in this area, and the state's residents face a major dilemma when they seek natural health care. Consumers should have the right to access the reliable health care option of naturopathic medicine. Currently naturopathic physicians are licensed in Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii Utah, Montana, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. The success of its efforts can be seen in the recent appointment of two licensed naturopathic physicians to the Complementary Alternative Medicine Program Advisory Council at the National Institute of Health by the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Here in the nation's most populated state, the California Association of Naturopathic Physicians is launching the licensing campaign to ensure that consumers in California have access to naturopathic medicine by qualified physicians.