I disagree. If you are going to accept the placebo effect as a true measure of efficacy, then you open the door to every sugar pill and crazy idea that gives comfort. The placebo effect is a product of the mind rather than the result of the procedure in question. Acupuncture is an active placebo, with its protocol and such, and is therefore understandably a more convincing scam than a passive placebo such a sugar pill with no pomp or circumstance. But unless its effect is consistent across a double blind study, then it is not real. It is faith. And if faith gets you through an ordeal, then good for you. But call it what it is. Acupuncture does not meet the gold standard. If you choose to lower your standards, then that is your choice.
As for your refence to the "logic" of acupuncture, properly conducted studies do not support it. Therefore, either the scientific process that has served the modern world so well is flawed, or the "logic" you refer to is flawed.
