SB 31 and more
I am writing to you today for a few reasons. If you have the time, please read to the end. There is so much going on, and at the end there is possibly a great opportunity for Health Freedom via a new political party that literally launched two days ago – very exciting effort!
SB 31
First, an update on SB 31, the bill that would have made North Carolina complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners felons, as sponsored by Rep. Mansfield. Rep. Weiss attempted to amend the bill to remove the felony provision as applied to CAM, but unfortunately her amendment ran into a state constitutional issue. The bill was sent to conference committee and has yet to be scheduled for discussion. Representative Mansfield, the bill’s sponsor, told me that the conference committee will move forward once the government’s lawyers hammer out the Constitutional issue, and he did not have a projected time of when that would occur. Representative Weiss reassured me that her understanding is that the intent of her amendment will be implemented. I will continue to monitor this bill and let you know if any additional action is needed.
NC Naturopath Doctors Licensing Bill
This has been another interesting piece of legislation. Naturopathic doctors have been attempting licensure for over ten years to assure the highest quality practitioners and treatment for patients. The supporting materials for the bill, which include examples of supposed Naturopathic practitioners who are poorly or not properly trained causing severe harm to patients, illustrate that licensure would be beneficial for the client. The bill has some problem spots, though, and I have been working with the Naturopathic doctor who is the lead on the legislation to get those problems addressed. I am hopeful that they will be.
The Naturopathic Doctors Licensing bill, if properly amended to address the problems that I and others in the CAM community have identified, will not only be a benefit to the Naturopathic community, but it could also serve as a rallying point for the CAM community. I am seeing first hand while lobbying at the NC legislature the power that the North Carolina Medical Society holds over the legislators. It is one of those things that you read about and know, but you don’t really get it until you start actively participating. Hopefully a properly amended bill will sail through the legislature, but it may need some public help similar to what we did with SB 31. I will keep you posted if your voices are needed.
Health Freedom Legislation
My work this spring has shown me how much Health Freedom legislation is needed in NC. Again, it is one of those things that you read about and know, but you don’t really get it until you start actively participating. After finishing up my work this legislative session, I am going to seriously explore how to put a bill forward in 2013 to have health freedom in North Carolina. There are many paths to pursue from a Health Freedom perspective, but my focus is ensuring that our CAM practitioners can practice free from the threats such as those put forward in SB 31. An effort to pass Health Freedom legislation in 2009 failed dramatically, and I intend to start my research there.
We are going to need tremendous unity of the various CAM modalities and strong public support if some form of Health Freedom is to become viable in North Carolina. Just take a look at what the NC Medical Society positions during the 2009 legislative session: http://www.ncmedsoc.org/non_members/pac/Scope-of-PracticeWhitePaper.pdf. While working to defeat (and now amend) SB 31 as a private citizen and working to amend the Naturopathic Doctors bill as a lobbyist (I am actually getting paid for this one!), it has become very clear to me how fragmented the CAM community.
I emphasize the need for unity for several reasons. First, those modalities that are licensed in NC (chiropractic, acupuncture, massage, for example) have lobbyists who were aware of SB 31 before I learned about it and all of us derailed it. Those going for licensure in 2011 with the help of their lobbyists (midwifery and naturopathic doctors) knew about SB 31before we derailed it. It appears that none of these professions reached out to warn the unrepresented and unlicensed CAM professions that they could actually become felons and many of us would lose our favorite practitioners because they would no longer be practicing. To be fair, most of the unlicensed professionals do not have a presence during the legislative session, but still, an informal outreach effort could have occurred and opposition to the bill could have been mounted earlier.
This lack of communication and community is completely the opposite of what I experienced in Florida when I lobbied the state legislature on environmental issues. Every Friday during legislative session, the different environmental interests would meet and report on what their legislative issues were, how they needed help, and how they could help the causes of other groups. It was a tremendously powerful and unifying experience. That type of cohesion is needed in North Carolina around health freedom.
In order to achieve cohesion, I anticipate holding some type of Health Care Freedom summit and figure out why the different professions aren’t communicating better.
Unlicensed CAM Umbrella Organization
There needs to be an umbrella organization representing the unlicensed CAM community so that they will have better protection against legislative attack, such as we have seen in 2011, and stronger presence in the decision making that affects the CAM community. I will try to figure out how to bring that together.
The Canary Party
A new political party, The Canary Party, launched a couple of days ago and is quickly gaining traction. This new party is dedicated to the health freedom effort that I am hoping to bring to NC. I am going to be reaching out to the organizers of this party to see how my efforts can support their cause and how they might help us in North Carolina. One of its founding members is Dr. Sherri Tennpenny, MD, a champion for vigorous health and leading opponent to America’s currently embraced disease paradigm. She recently linked to my blog to help fight the Chapel Hill/Carrboro vaccine contest program: win a laptop or i-Pod if you get vaxed, and the more you get vaxed the greater your chances of winning. You can read more here if you are interested: http://movingstronglyforward.typepad.com/moving_strongly_forward/2011/05/update-school-district-contest-potential-cover-up.html.
Final Thoughts
I have developed a fairly good relationship with Natural News, who has taken up the SB 31 fight and the Chapel Hill school vax fight. If we decide to go for Health Freedom in NC, perhaps they will support us again. It is amazing how far a message reaches once Natural News promotes it.
Please feel free to let me know any thoughts you have on these issues.
Thank you all for reading, and here is to a wonderful summer!
Laura
Laura Combs
www.movingstronglyforward.typepad.com
The older I get, the better I feel!
