According to Mississippi Code Annotated Section 97-23-43, acupuncture can only be performed by a physician licensed to practice medicine or surgery, or a dentist licensed to practice dentistry in the state.  Mississippi is one of only seven states left in the country with such restrictive regulations regarding acupuncture. 

Most people do not know that becoming a certified acupuncturist requires over 3,000 hours of didactic course work and clinical training.  One must enter a graduate program at an institution accredited by the United States Department of Education.  After acceptance into the Master of Science in Oriental Medicine program, a student has four years of study and the following requirements must be met in order to graduate:

Acupuncture is already recognized in Mississippi as a viable healthcare option by allowing physicians the ability to practice.  A physician can legally practice acupuncture here after completing 200 hours of training.  However, the full scope of Traditional Chinese medicine cannot be utilized without the adjunctive modalities, like herbal medicine, moxibustion and cupping that require the intensive study gained when a Master of Science in Oriental Medicine is awarded.  The National Certification Commission of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM) only certifies practitioners who have passed their national board exam, as well completed the above requirements.  An NCCAOM certified practitioner will have thousands of hours of course work dedicated to the entirety of Traditional Chinese medicine conjoined with the biomedical knowledge needed to refer patients to physicians in times of need.    
   
Why does Mississippi law limit the practice of acupuncture exclusively to medical doctors, inadvertently curbing the full benefits of TCM?  Certified practitioners of Traditional Chinese medicine should be recognized as such.  According to the 2002 National Health Interview Survey conducted by the National Institutes of Health, an estimated 8.2 million U.S. adults had ever used acupuncture, and an estimated 2.1 million U.S. adults had used acupuncture in the previous year.  With so many people receiving acupuncture in the United States, isn’t it time for Mississippi to join the majority of the country, allowing safe access for residents to licensed practitioners of TCM?  If you agree, please support the effort to expand access to acupuncture by aligning with the Mississippi Oriental Medicine Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to enacting fair and safe acupuncture laws