Acupuncture for Substance Abuse: Three Landmarks

Acupuncture for Substance Abuse: Three Landmarks

Changzhen Gong, Ph.D.

Four decades have passed since acupuncture was applied to treat substance abuse for the first time. Three landmarks can be identified in the development of treatment protocols for substance abuse.

Dr. Wen, a neurosurgeon of Kwong Wah Hospital in Hong Kong, was the first to report in 1973 that acupuncture at four body points and two ear points combined with electric stimulation can relieve opioid withdrawal signs in addicts. Clinicians and research scientists around the world have given much attention to this finding.

The second landmark was made by Dr. Michael O. Smith in New York, professor of psychiatry at Connell Medical School and the head of the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) of the United States, who finalized a protocol in 1985 using only ear points without electric stimulation for the treatment of cocaine dependence.  The five-point NADA protocol that helps detoxification includes Shenmen, Sympathetic, Kidney, Liver, and Lung 1 and 2. This is the famous “NADA Protocol.”

A more recent advance in this field was made by Dr. Ji-Sheng Han of the Peking University, Beijing, who characterized a protocol in 2005 using electric stimulation of identified frequencies on body points to ameliorate heroin withdrawal signs and reduce relapse of heroin use.

Please read Dr. Michael Smith on “The Use of Acupuncture in Addiction Treatment Programs”:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-michael-o-smith/addiction-acupuncture_b_1665796.html