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Acupuncture was introduced to the United States in the first half of the 19th century and became popular in the United States under the influence of the “Acupuncture Fever” in the 1970s. During the fifty years that acupuncture has been popular in the United States, it has gone through three waves of popularity, and has completed four levels of localization: localization of law, localization of education, localization of profession, and localization of medical attributes. Initially, acupuncture was used in the United States primarily for the treatment of painful conditions, but later it was also widely used in the areas of anaphylaxis, diabetes, AIDS, various tumors, high blood pressure, obesity, drug addiction, alcoholism, smoking cessation, and nausea and vomiting occurring after chemotherapy or surgery. Acupuncture and moxibustion therapy for many conditions can be a non-surgical, conservative, inexpensive and effective treatment. So far, except for three states, South Dakota, Alabama, and Oklahoma, which do not have specific acupuncture legislation in the 50 states of the United States, the remaining 47 states and Washington, D.C., have dedicated chapters of their state legislatures' laws to the legal system for the practice of acupuncturists, which broadly covers the concepts of acupuncture and Oriental medicine, the admission requirements for acupuncturists, education and training, practice regulations, management of professional organizations, and rules of disciplinary action.

After more than two years of information collection, data organization and analysis, the writing team of this book has collected, translated, proofread and legally reviewed the English texts of the acupuncture laws of 47 U.S. states, focusing on showing the full picture of the current legal system of acupuncture in each U.S. state. The series consists of five volumes, divided according to New England and Central, Midwest, Western, Southern, and Southwestern regions. This book is a compilation of acupuncture legislation for the Western region of the United States. Each regional legislation is presented in terms of the legal status of acupuncture personnel, access and registration, day-to-day regulatory agencies, professional ethics, and disciplinary reports. It is hoped that the publication of this book will serve as a reference and reference for policy and law makers of TCM, researchers of TCM policy and legal system, and researchers of TCM disciplines in higher education and research institutions.