Dr. Michael O. Smith (1942–2017) was an American psychiatrist, addiction specialist, acupuncturist, and one of the most influential figures in the modern history of auricular acupuncture. He founded the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association in 1985 and developed what became known worldwide as the NADA Five-Point Protocol.
For those of us involved in Acudetox today, his greatest legacy was not simply creating a protocol—it was changing the philosophy of addiction treatment.
His work at Lincoln Hospital
Dr. Smith served for more than 30 years as Medical Director of the Acupuncture Detoxification Program at Lincoln Hospital Recovery Center. During the 1970s he helped transform the pioneering work that had begun at Lincoln Detox into a practical, standardized treatment that could be taught to non-physicians working in behavioural health settings.
Rather than treating addiction as simply a chemical problem, he believed recovery required:
- Dignity
- Calmness
- Personal responsibility
- Community support
- Non-judgmental care
These principles remain central to NADA training today.
The Five-Point Protocol
Dr. Smith refined and standardized the five ear points now used worldwide:
- Sympathetic
- Shen Men
- Kidney
- Liver
- Lung
The protocol was intentionally designed to be:
- Simple
- Safe
- Easy to teach
- Consistent worldwide
- Delivered in quiet groups rather than one-on-one whenever possible.
Founding NADA
In 1985 he established NADA to preserve the protocol and train practitioners internationally.
Today, the protocol has spread to more than 40 countries, with tens of thousands of practitioners working in:
- Addiction treatment
- Mental health
- Trauma recovery
- Disaster relief
- Correctional facilities
- Veterans’ services
- Community health
- Smoking cessation programs
His philosophy
One of Dr. Smith’s best-known ideas was that practitioners should “do less and be more.”
He believed the practitioner should create a calm therapeutic environment rather than trying to “fix” the patient. The needles simply help create the conditions in which the person’s own healing capacity can emerge. This quiet, supportive presence became one of the defining characteristics of the NADA approach.
Research
Dr. Smith also helped produce some of the early research supporting the NADA protocol, including studies demonstrating improvements in:
- Cravings
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Anger
- Sleep
- Concentration
- Physical discomfort when used alongside conventional addiction treatment.
His legacy
Dr. Michael O. Smith passed away on 24 December 2017, but his influence continues worldwide. Many people consider him the individual most responsible for taking auricular acupuncture from a small community programme in the South Bronx and turning it into one of the world’s best-known behavioural health acupuncture protocols.
Given your work with NADA Africa, I think you’d especially appreciate his writings. He had a remarkably humble teaching style—always emphasizing that the relationship, the quiet environment, and the respect shown to clients were every bit as important as the five needles themselves.