ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE SPREADING, PARTICULARLY IN NORTHWEST

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Practitioners of naturopathic medicine gather for
their annual meeting here this week, fittingly in a state considered a
leader in a growing shift away from mainstream medicine.

This year, a study released by Landmark HealthCare in Sacramento, Calif.,
found that 42 percent of American adults use some form of alternative
medicine, particularly chiropractic and herbal therapies, spending $13.7
billion a year on such treatments.

Up to 1,000 naturopaths and other health-care practitioners are expected to
attend when the five-day conference of the American Association of
Naturopathic Physicians opens Wednesday.

Clyde Jensen, president of the National College of Naturopathic Medicine,
said Portland was an appropriate choice because the Northwest has been the
leader in alternative medicine.

``The Northwestern mentality is a very independent, pioneering mentality,''
said Jensen, a pharmacologist and past president of three osteopathic
medicine colleges.

Oregon already has seen changes based on increasing consumer interest in
alternative medicine, including research into alternative therapies by the
Oregon Cancer Center at Oregon Health Sciences University.

Next spring, the OHSU medical school will inaugurate an annual lecture on
alternative medicine, adding to course work already offered.

``Our charge at the cancer center is to try to validate some of the
alternative strategies that have been employed in the past and maybe even
to develop some for the future,'' said Dr. Grover Bagby, center director.

Nature's Northwest, a grocery chain with organic produce and health foods,
opened a Lake Oswego store this month with a pharmacy for prescription
drugs combined with an herbal supplement dispensary.

National College and Bastyr University outside Seattle are the country's
nation's only fully accredited natural medicine schools. Bastyr offers
undergraduate and graduate programs in natural health sciences.

In addition to National College, Portland is home to chiropractic and
Oriental Asian medicine colleges and two massage schools.

The colleges have helped alternative therapies grow in importance,
especially in the Northwest.

In 1996, for example, Bastyr University and King County, which includes
Seattle, opened the nation's first fully integrated, publicly funded
financed conventional and natural medicine clinic. The King County Natural
Medicine Clinic offers primary medical care as well as naturopathic
medicine, acupuncture, chiropractic and massage.

``The rest of the country is now catching up to where Portland and Seattle
have long been,'' said Peter Barry Chowka, spokesman for the American
Association of Naturopathic Physicians.

Checked-by: Pat Dolan