Imagine constantly living in fear that you may have a seizure at any moment.

One minute you are coherent, playing, laughing, working — then things start to become fuzzy. The next thing you know, strangers are huddled around you with worrisome expressions on their faces. You’ve had a seizure. You are physically exhausted and embarrassed.

You are not alone. You are one of the 1 million Americans who live with uncontrollable seizures because no available treatment works for you.

The Epilepsy Foundation of Hawaii, in keeping with the recent policy statement from our national counterpart, recognizes the urgency for individuals with epilepsy in Hawaii to gain access to medical marijuana as a potential treatment option. Our Professional Advisory Board estimates that more than 15,000 Hawaii residents have epilepsy, a neurological condition that includes recurring seizures. One in 26 people in the United States will develop epilepsy at some point in their lifetime.

We support the rights of patients and families living with seizures and epilepsy to access physician-directed care, including access to medical marijuana. Uncontrolled, recurrent seizures can result in shortened lifespan and excessive bodily injury from falls and burns. Uncontrolled seizures can also result in sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, or SUPEP. Nothing should stand in the way of patients gaining access to potentially life-saving treatment.

Currently, patients in Hawaii are not being allowed safe access to contaminant-free medical marijuana that the state has already accepted as medicine.

We recognize that the primary obstacle that is keeping individuals with epilepsy from gaining access to medical marijuana, and preventing much needed medical research, is the current misclassification of marijuana as a federal Schedule I controlled substance.

There is undoubtedly risk involved in utilizing medical marijuana to treat epilepsy. The side effects are unknown. We are calling on the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to implement a lesser schedule for marijuana so that it is easily assessable for medical research. Restrictions on the use of medical marijuana for epilepsy patients continues to stand in the way of research.

In keeping with this position, the Epilepsy Foundation of Hawaii supports measures at the state level that could help resolve the federal misclassification of marijuana, so that our clients would be able to legally purchase medical marijuana within Hawaii.

One such measure is a resolution that was recently introduced into both the Senate and the House, which approaches this problem by (1) recognizing the state’s authority to accept the medicaluse of controlled substances, (2) recognizing that marijuana is currently misclassified in federal Schedule I, and (3) requesting that the DEA follow the Controlled Substances Act and initiate rescheduling proceedings. We urge the community to support House Resolution 184.

Our hope is that such a resolution, once adopted and transmitted to the DEA, could be enough to finally force this federal administrative agency to follow the Federal Controlled Substances Act and recognize the currently accepted medical use of marijuana in treatment that already exists in Hawaii and the United States.

We believe that only then, after the DEA reschedules marijuana, will our state be able to develop a regulated distribution system for medical marijuana that can comply with federal law and can provide an alternative treatment option for patients who so urgently need it.