The changing of Naturopathy to a “medical model” has literally taken the Nature out of Naturopathy. N.D.’s trained in on of the four “naturopathic medical schools” in this country mix allopathic treatments with alternative modalities which is not what naturopathy is supposed to be.

These naturopathic medical colleges teach students the “medical model” of care intermixed with some classes on: acupuncture, homeopathy, herbology, aromatherapy and many others, these students are NOT experts in any naturopathic or alternative treatments, they receive a small amount of education in a large myriad of treatments, the majority of their education is based on diagnostics, pathology, pharmaceuticals and other allopathic medical procedures that have no place in naturopathic care. Traditional naturopathy is not based on pharmaceutical drugs, diagnostics, pathology or any of these allopathic practices or treatments. Traditional naturopathy recognizes the innate healing abilities of the body, they deal with nutrition, herbs and natural approaches to health. Traditional naturopaths do not diagnose disease, nor do they seek to prescribe pharmaceutical drugs, these practices are allopathic and should remain with the allopathic model of care, naturopathy should remain as it has always been, free from drugs, surgery and diagnostics.. Licensing naturopathy has basically turned it into just another medical practice. I spoke with a student from one of the “four naturopathic medical colleges.” She discussed her education and it was strongly focused on the allopathic medical model. She also discussed how the college had begun focusing on the low carb diet in nutrition classes, none of this type of education really has anything to do with naturopathy but has everything to do with the allopathic medical model. Americans deserve to have a choice in the type of care they choose to receive. Licensing laws have restricted access to alternative approaches provided by experts in their respective fields. An individual who wants herbal therapy would be better served by a master herbalist than a naturopathic doctor who has had limited herbal training amongst training in dozens of other modalities. An individual seeking nutritional support would be better served by an individual who has studied holistic nutrition rather than a naturopathic doctor who has received limited nutrition education, and education only based on the standard American diet rather than macrobiotics, living foods, vegetarianism, asian diets and many other different diets that may improve health. The American Medical Association has been convicted of monopolistic practices twice in history. Both convictions involved the AMA striving to rid themselves of competition and maintain themselves as the only mode of medical care. The first conviction was due to the AMA trying to get rid of the homeopathic medical schools as well as this mode of treatment as this form of treatment was much less invasive and was poised to really hurt the medical profession. The second conviction was in the 1980’s when the AMA was claiming that the chiropractic profession was a crock and that they were merely back crackers and nothing more. They were eventually convicted of monopolistic practices. We are facing the same situation today with naturopathy. The medical associations are trying to control naturopathy and other alternative practices. More than 100 million Americans seek advice from alternative health practitioners each year. This significantly impacts the pocketbooks of medical doctors and they are going to fight to maintain their superiority over alternative care. The allopathic profession as a whole will directly benefit from the licensing of naturopathic physicians because they too use the same medical model as allopaths with very little variance. Most naturopathic physicians prescribe the same drugs and surgeries as allopaths with the small exception of an herb or other treatment along side it, which has cause severe deterioration of true naturopathy.