In answering these questions, Ms. Bernie, along with other advocates, changed the course of American history.

It was at this point that the energetic Ms. Bernie began her odyssey into the U.S. judiciary system. She began studying Chinese medicine. That year, she also began to fight the illegal status of acupuncture, making visits to the state's capitol in Sacramento, testifying before committees, and educating the legislature. A convincing speaker, it is easy to see the impact she must have had on this audience.

Her story reveals the results.

In 1972, with no place to study acupuncture in the U.S., Ms. Bernie looked abroad for programs. She quickly learned of the well-known Worsley School of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the United Kingdom. She attended the school and invited its head, Dr. Worsley, to California to speak in different venues to promote her cause. By 1973, Dr. Worsley had made an indelible mark on the state, speaking on the radio, TV, before legislature and to medical audiences at Mt. Zion Hospital. On a speaking tour with Dr. Worsley, Ms. Bernie met the renowned acupuncturist Miriam Lee, who invited Ms. Bernie to study with her. They became a powerful duo, treating patients undercover on the one hand, and testifying before the state legislature on the other. Even today in 1998, Ms. Bernie still credits her successful career in complementary and alternative medicine to the two people she met in her first year of exposure to acupuncture, Prof. Worsley and Dr. Lee. In 1973/74, under Governor Ronald Reagan, a law was finally passed that allowed acupuncture to be practiced on a limited basis in medical universities for research purposes. This was not enough, as acupuncturists could be arrestedá. And they were: that year, Miriam Lee was arrested, adding fuel to the fight to make a law that encompassed Traditional Chinese Medicine as it was practiced in China.

Ms. Bernie and Ms. Lee befriended Senator Moscone, who began preparing a law to legalize acupuncture. The bill included language that would have demanded that an MD refer patients to acupuncturists. This would have limited the authority of acupuncturists, making them dependent on MD's, who, as a group, did not support them or their practice. The two women camped out in Sacramento in a hotel the night before the bill was to be debated, and came up with a way of presenting the bill that would give maximum medical authority to the acupuncturist. The next morning, they succeeded in having the law passed under their terms. Ms. Bernie's version of the law gave acupuncturists full authority over their patients, which is still not the case in many other parts of the U.S. In fact, in about 30% of the states where acupuncture is officially legal, acupuncturists have limited direct access to their patients. For example, in Washington DC, an MD's written authority is required for a patient to receive acupuncture treatment, and in Massachusetts, a referral or diagnosis is required. Due to Ms. Bernie and Ms. Lee's efforts, however, California is one of the states where acupuncturists are not under the medical jurisdiction of MD's.

But Ms. Bernie was still not satisfied. Up until that point, the law only covered acupuncture, and not other aspects of Traditional Chinese Medicine, such as herbal medicine, diet, massage, and Qi Gong. So, under Governor Jerry Brown, and with Ms. Bernie's insistence, another law was passed. This law expanded the definition of the practice of acupuncture to include the entire scope of Traditional Chinese Medicine, allowing acupuncturists to exercise their full range of healing talent.