This is an impassioned plea for logic and reason.  The regulation that would allow untrained practitioners to practice acupuncture is a bad idea.  I can fully understand why chiropractors, physical therapists and other compassionate caregivers might want to be acupuncturists.  Tell them to go to acupuncture school, its only four years and they will fly by.  The fascinating history of the development of this practice will introduce them to a five thousand year old intellectual tradition involving many schools of thought, channel theory and the five meridian systems. 

Exposing consumers to sham acupuncture is reckless endangerment.  The safety concerns should be our primary collective focus.  While it may seem absurd that fake anything should even be a topic for our busy legislators, this is what it has come to.  Make no mistake, dry needling is fake acupuncture. 

As a student of acupuncture for the last 24 years, in seven years I will finally consider myself fully trained in my tradition.  If it takes ten years to master pulse taking skills that is how long it takes Japanese people to learn their own language both written and spoken.  The respect this profession deserves will only grow when practitioners are well trained.  That is the most serious challenge we face in this profession.  This regulatory change would be three steps back not a single step forward.