Update: SB 327 Naturopaths and prescriptions

June 4, 2:32 PMPortland Alternative Medicine ExaminerJolene Johnson

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This Tuesday Oregon lawmakers passed Senate Bill 327. Governor Kulongoski is expected to sign it into law. This bill increases the prescription authority of Oregon's approximately 650 Naturopathic doctors.  SB 327 will permit naturopathic doctors (ND's) to prescribe some common primary care pharmaceuticals that are synthetically derived.

Although ND's are uniquely trained in the full range of synthetic and natural pharmaceuticals, before passage of this bill they were limited in their prescribing authority by a 1950s statute that stipulated that ND's could only prescribe naturally-derived substances, which precluded a few commonly used drugs, now considered “standard of care” in primary care settings.
 

Dr. David J. Schleich, president of National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, applauded the bill’s passage. “Oregon’s naturopathic physicians, educated and clinically trained as primary care physicians, will soon be in a position in which they can put their full scope of practice to use at a time when the demand for low-cost, preventive health care is highest.”

Naturopathic doctors are exceptionally trained in a full scope of treatment options. Medical school students, training to become Md's, are required to take 72 hours of pharmacological training as part of their doctoral degree. While naturopathic doctors, in addition to the National College of Natural Medicine’s (NCNM) rigorous classroom training, the students must also take 1500 hours of clinical pharmacological training. Upon graduation, Nd's are required to take 25 hours of annual continuing ed  ucation courses—five of those required hours must be in pharmacology.