Chinese medicine gaining respectability in the West

With more research widely available to the main stream, and many more people interested in trying alternatives to western medicine , after they havent found a succesfull or timely treatment in western medicine, Chinese Medicine is definately growing. When I was doing the research for my acupuncture business plan; I saw some interesting figures. A vast amount of the population in the Wets is becoming more interested in alternative froms of treatment, and biologically based therapies (acupuncture) are most popular. The herbal industry is also a very big sector. With major hospitals in the Bay Area becoming more open to acupuncture, and more programs opening up for acu-detox clinics and acupuncture for low income or people with cancer; I think there is a lot of work to do out there. We still need to do a lot of education and promotion in our profession, and that's something we all need to do, as acupuncturists. Our school tries to bring a good voice out there; "we need integration of Eastern and Western Medicine." I think we have a long way to go, before we see such an integration, but it's certainly an exiting time to enter the profession, and create a lot of change. Masja