Editor’s Note: This article is not intended to address or endorse the actions of the Black Panthers, Young Lords or any other group. It is an intriguing historical account of how acupuncture helped (and can help) benefit people suffering from drug addition and toxicity.
Dr. Mario Wexu has found himself in the middle of three revolutions. The first was when his family escaped from Romania. The second he started along with his father, Dr. Oscar Wexu, when they opened up a clinic in Montreal – the first acupuncture clinic in North America. The third revolution was in Montreal and New York, when he taught members of the Black Panthers and Young Lords acupuncture to help detox their communities.
The year was 1975 and Mario was taking a year off on sabbatical, writing his book on ear acupuncture, The Ear the Gateway to Balancing the Body, which became a bestseller all over the world. I asked Mario how he got involved with the Black Panthers and their project to save their community from the ravages of heroin addiction.
"Two Black Panthers came to my door. They said, 'We heard about what you are doing in Montreal and we would like you to come down to Lincoln Memorial in the South Bronx to our clinic.' They said they were experimenting with acupuncture to help their community get off heroin and asked me to come see their clinic; I wasn't sure [at first], but then I agreed to have a look."
How far along with their project were they? "The Panthers and the Lords had read the report written by Dr. Wen out of Hong Kong about using acupuncture to detox addicts. They were trying it out without knowledge. Their revolution was against the methadone program, because there was a big black market in it at the time. The Panthers and the Lords were looking for an inexpensive alternative to methadone, which was needles."
What was your role at the clinic when you started? "One of the first people I saved was a guy who came in overdosing. He was having problems breathing. I stuck an acupuncture needle in the lung 6 point, and he broke out in a sweat and said, 'Wow, that is like a $20 hit of cocaine.' That was Matulu Shakur. He became interested in acupuncture and became a student."
Was Matulu Shakur related to Tupac Shakur, the famous rapper who was murdered? "Yes, Matulu was Tupac's stepfather."
What was the clinic like in the early days? "The clinic was one big room in a building separate from the hospital. They had about 50 chairs and a couple of couches. We had a separated room where I trained them in massage and body acupuncture."
How many Black Panthers came up to Montreal to train with you? "Four guys came up here for training for three years, with some hours in my clinic and some in New York."
What were their names? "Matulu Shakur, Richard Murphy, Richard Delaney and Walter Bosque. Walter was the leader of the New Lords; I am still in touch with him."
"The whole idea behind the Black Panthers and the Young Lords was to help their communities. They did a lot of good. The Panthers and Lords gave them an Identity, a strength, a sense of belonging and pride. Unfortunately, the people they helped had to buy into the whole program (Maoist communism). That is why in the movie I said that I don't believe in politics, I believe in love and healing."
Shakur was accused in the robbery of a Brinks truck with other members of the Panthers and other clinic members. Unfortunately, one Brinks guard and two police officers were killed in the robbery.
Mario said, "After the whole Brinks incident, Matulu was on the lam for five years. The FBI called me and the RCMP came to see if I was hiding him here in Montreal. I told them, he was one of my best students, but I had no idea of where he was after he finished training with me."
How did you feel about the clinic closing after you put all of the hard work into it? "I know the FBI shut the clinic down, but it reopened in the '80s with Dr. Michael Smith running it again under NADA (National Acupuncture Detox Association). So, I was relieved that the work would go on."
What points did you focus on in the early days, as opposed to the five-point protocol used later? "We used the lung, kidney and shen men in the ears and Large Intestine 4 on the body. We also did traditional diagnostics. Smith's protocol of five points is more effective because it is quicker and can be applied faster, so more people can be treated in a quicker time."
So, what happened to all of the guys you trained in Montreal? "Matulu is still incarcerated. Richard Murphy went to California and became the director of a black hospital in Los Angeles; he passed away a while ago. Richard Delaney became a train enthusiast and traveled all over the place. He now lives in Arizona and is about 83 years old. Walter Bosque is an artist and he still practices acupuncture in his clinic in New York. I spent some time with him in Puerto Rico a few years back."
What is your takeaway from this experience? "I am proud of the work we did. We helped a lot of people off of drugs including methadone. It was too bad that the project went south with the robbery. I warned the guys that violence was not the way of Chinese medicine. Unfortunately, things didn't work out for the best, but the project lives on in NADA."
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