Most people do not know that the first place that acupuncture was recognized and regulated as a medical modality was in Nevada. The story behind this regulation which took place in 1973 is quite interesting.
This was brought about through the combined efforts of 3 men and one woman: New York attorney Arthur Steinberg, a Chinese medicine doctor from Hong Kong named Lok Yee-kung, and a professional lobbyist James Joyce. Mr. Steinberg was determined to introduce legalized acupuncture into the United States after being persuaded of it value by his Chinese-born wife. At the time, the medical establishments in California and New York were determined to confine the practice of acupuncture to licensed medical doctors. As Nevada often sanctioned unexpected legislation and was seen as more libertarian than the legislative bodies of most other states, Mr Steinberg decided to submit his test case legislation here. To assist in his cause he brought in Dr. Lok Yee-kung, who had previously treated Mrs. Steinberg in Hong Kong.
Just before the acupuncture-licensing bill came up for a vote in Nevada’s Senate, Dr. Lok Yee-kung set up an acupuncture demonstration area in the conference room of a casino located directly across the street from the State Legislative building. Media outlets from across the country covered the event. Dr. Lok selected 70 demonstration patients out of the thousand who volunteered. Thirty of the selected volunteers just happened to be state legislators, who comprised about half of the total number of legislators who would be voting on the acupuncture bill. This exhibition of acupuncture proved to be overwhelmingly successful and the State Senate passed it on a 20-0 vote and the House of representatives passed it on a 34-2 vote. Governor Mike O’Callaghan signed the bill into law on April 20th making it the first acupuncture law in the world.
Time magazine ran a story on the passage of this legislation as did People magazine, which featured a cover photo of Bonanza star Lorene Greene with acupuncture needles in his ear. In March 1974 Playboy magazine recounted the legislation story in an article, “The 300 Needles of Dr. Lok,”
At Renaissance Health Centre we are fortunate to have Dr. Renae Haldeman, who has a Master’s Degree of Science in Oriental Medicine (MSOM) and is licensed through the Nevada State Board of Oriental Medicine.