Americans For Homeopathy Choice Action is uniquely positioned to pursue legislation

Today’s Report:

Why Americans for Homeopathy for Choice Action is uniquely positioned to pursue legislation

Over the past 5+ years through constant communication with and assistance from the homeopathy community, the leadership of Americans for Homeopathy Choice Action (AFHC-A) has been organizing, researching, advocating and strategically planning to be in the position we are now—to work on legislation that will protect homeopathy for the long run. The time for drafting such legislation arrived when the FDA issued its final guidance on homeopathic medicines in December 2022 without incorporating any of our key policy recommendations. 

Our heart-felt thanks go out to the homeopathy community, who stuck with us as we navigated meetings with the FDA, submitted Citizen Petitions with broad community support, and gathered new allies along the way. We thank those in the community who have volunteered for the Homeopathy Action Team and those who contacted their members of Congress during our Action Alerts. And, we thank everyone who donated money in amounts large and small to get us to this day.  We could not have come this far without your support. 

Together, we’ve made progress. We were instrumental in successfully having this bi-partisan letter sent to the FDA, in support of our efforts, and recently, thanks to the hard work of our grassroots team, the Senate Appropriations Committee included supportive language in their report accompanying the Senate Appropriations bill that directed the FDA to work with the homeopathy community to develop a suitable regulatory framework for homeopathic medicines.

With all this experience and some important victories, we are now turning our eyes to Congress for help in passing a bill. I wanted to share with you, our members and supporters, information about the team that is helping us in this effort.

The Right Team for the Job

We have assembled a great team for the complex task of writing legislation that will protect homeopathic medicines. Helping us get to this moment was one of food and drug law’s giants and a renowned consumer advocate, the late James Turner. His 50 years of legal experience in the field continues to inform our every move, even today, two years after his passing. We are also blessed with the continuing assistance of Jim’s longtime law partner and life partner, attorney Betsy Lehrfeld, a recognized expert in food and drug law in her own right, who stepped in as legal advisor to AFHC-A upon Jim’s passing.

We also have the great good fortune of being advised by Todd Harrison, a top-tier food and drug attorney and partner in one of Washington, D.C.’s most prestigious law firms, Venable. Todd has extensive experience in defending companies in the homeopathic and dietary supplement industries. We are truly grateful for his support and involvement.

At the center of our efforts is attorney Holly Sullivan who anchors this endeavor. Using her deep understanding of the history of drug law relating to homeopathy, she has worked tirelessly on version after version of various drafts of legislation that we hope soon to bring to the homeopathy community for additional feedback.

To help these able legal minds, we are consulting closely with manufacturers, brand owners, regulatory experts, researchers, practitioners and others to assist us with specific technical and policy details so that this legislation, when implemented, will support their ability to serve the homeopathy community to the best of their abilities.

Listening to Stakeholders

Behind the scenes, we have met with more than 30 brand owners and manufacturers to gather important input on what this legislation should say. After all, FDA’s actions are affecting them, and therefore, it is vital to understand the pressures they are feeling in order to craft language that will support them. Juggling the many interests and concerns of this group has been anything but easy, but we believe we are approaching the task in a way that is aligned with our mission: 

Support the rights of the 6 million (and growing) Americans who use homeopathy, to protect access to homeopathic medicines so that practitioners can treat their clients using the full range of homeopathic medicines, and support manufacturers of homeopathic medicines which meet the standards for strength, quality, and purity. We believe we can only achieve that if we include consumers, practitioners, manufacturers, and other supporters of homeopathic medicine in our efforts.

We’ve also been having dialogue with homeopathy community members, notably at the regular gatherings of the Homeopathy Consumer Council, which includes homeopathy consumers, producers, and practitioners. We also participate in many other meetings within the homeopathy community, which comprise a wide swathe of professional and consumer homeopathy groups across the country.

Building One-on-One Relationships in Congress

Perhaps most critical to our success are our Homeopathy Action Team members, volunteers who have been building long-term relationships with members of Congress and their staffs. Our fearless HAT members have been educating their Congressional representatives and asking for their support for our various efforts since 2019. As we continue to extend our efforts in order to write, introduce, and ultimately pass legislation, we are always looking for new HAT members across the country who feel as strongly about saving homeopathy as we do. The trust and goodwill these volunteers have cultivated in their relationships with members of Congress and their staffs will be pivotal to our legislative success.

Committed Consumers: The Most Important Constituency

The most important constituency, of course, is all of you who use homeopathic medicines every day in your homes, on trips, at work, in your professional practices, even on the farm and in the field. You are the ones we are working for so that you can have access to the full range of homeopathic medicines to restore and maintain your health. We’ll be calling on all of you—now 120,000 strong—before too long to show Congress that these medicines deserve to be protected.

As always, it takes money and people to do what we are doing. For information on volunteering, visit our volunteer page. To donate, please visit our donation page.

Your support is what will put us over the top when the time comes. Stay tuned to this space!