Originally published April 5 2011
NC bill to criminalize natural medicine delayed: Call and oppose NOW
by Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
(NaturalNews) Yesterday, NaturalNews made an important announcement about a rogue bill in North Carolina that threatens to criminalize the practice of unapproved forms of alternative medicine, and we urged our readers to immediately call and oppose it. Thanks to your quick action on the matter, Senate Bill 31 (SB 31) has once again been delayed for a vote, this time until tonight -- which means now is the time to continue flooding the legislature with calls of opposition.
In case you missed the story yesterday, SB 31 is a bill that was filed in early February as a type of clarification to existing North Carolina law concerning the "unauthorized practice of medicine." If passed, the bill will reclassify those who practice unapproved forms of natural and alternative medicine as Class I felons, which threatens a large number of practitioners who are not officially licensed by the state to do the work they do -- but that safely and honestly help thousands of patients -- with being put out of business (http://www.naturalnews.com/031953_medical_pr...).
Few in the natural health community were even aware of the existence of SB 31 until just recently when the original NC House discussion and vote on the bill was set to take place on March 31. That first vote ended up getting delayed until the evening of April 4, just hours after we made the announcement to our readers to call and oppose it. As of this morning, the NC House is now planning to debate and vote on SB 31 at some point today (http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/Bi...).
You can read our first announcement about SB 31 here:
http://www.naturalnews.com/031953_medical_pr...
You can also read an actual copy of SB 31 here:
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2011/Bills/Sen...
This is a crucial time to continue hammering the NC legislature with opposition to SB 31, as the push-back seems to have already made an impact in delaying the vote, and hopefully killing the bill entirely. NC lawmakers appear to be catching on to the fact that the public is aware of their scheme, and perhaps they are now reconsidering the repercussions of supporting a piece of legislation that is clearly not in the best interest of North Carolinians, or of the millions of Americans that stand to be impacted by the negative precedent this bill will set.
If you live in North Carolina, you can find contact information for your appropriate Congressmen by clicking the following link:
http://www.ncleg.net/GIS/RandR07/Representat...
Once there, you can find your representatives by selecting your district, or by inputting your county or zip code.
And even if you do not live in North Carolina, you can still help oppose the bill by calling the NC General Assembly line at (919) 733-7928 and expressing opposition. You can also reach NC Governor Bev Perdue's Raleigh office by calling (919) 733-4240.
Be sure to call as soon as possible as the hearing and vote is set for some time today. And once again, be respectful and clear in presenting your case. Explain that SB 31 threatens to further erode health freedom by turning many honest alternative health practitioners into criminals. The bill also threatens to set a dangerous precedent of intolerance for those who practice outside the officially-approved government medical paradigm.
And be sure to urge support for the NC Consumer Health Freedom Act (http://www.ncchf.org/2011/03/29/opposition-t...).
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