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Advocacy

The Epilepsy Foundation of San Diego County is proud to work in close partnership with Epilepsy California, we work to pass legislation that supports individuals with seizure disorders. Together we have helped secure laws that protect students in schools, patient access to medications, and seizure first aid and rescue medication trainings throughout the State.

Epilepsy California is the recognized, unified voice of people with epilepsy throughout California. We are pro-active in developing a statewide epilepsy agenda, and advocate within state government and state agencies for public policy which ensures the rights of people affected by epilepsy to fully participate as contributing members of their communities.

Epilepsy California represents 1 million people in California with epilepsy and their family members. One in every 10 Americans will experience a seizure during his or her lifetime. Every three minutes a new person is diagnosed with epilepsy.

Epilepsy Foundation of America

We also work in close partnership with our National Epilepsy Foundation advocating on behalf of people with epilepsy and their family members and caregivers to overcome the challenges of living with epilepsy and accelerate therapies to stop seizures, find cures and save lives.  Our National Foundation works with thousands of grassroots advocates across the country to support policies that are advantageous to the epilepsy community on the federal and state level.

 Priorities include:

  • Ensuring access to quality health care that is affordable, physician-directed and patient-centered;
  • Securing federal funding for epilepsy programs, research and treatments at institutions including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA);
  • Safeguarding disability rights and ending discrimination through awareness; and
  • Fostering biomedical innovation through incentivizing development of new therapies and the promotion of research to gain a better understanding of causes, consequences, and outcomes, and, ultimately, cures for all the epilepsies. 

Epilepsy can affect anyone with a brain. And anyone with a brain can affect epilepsy. 

ADVOCACY – RESEARCH – ACCESS: Medical Marijuana

The Epilepsy Foundation of San Diego County supports the rights of patients and families living with seizures and epilepsy to access physician directed care, including medical marijuana.

The Epilepsy Foundation of San Diego County calls for an end to Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) restrictions that limit clinical trials and research into medical marijuana for epilepsy.

The Epilepsy Foundation of San Diego County believes that an end to seizures should not be determined by one’s zip code.

The Epilepsy Foundation of San Diego County will be doing the following to support improved access and research into medical marijuana:

  1. Calling on the Drug Enforcement Administration to implement a lesser schedule for marijuana so that it can be more easily accessible for medical research.
  2. Supporting appropriate changes to state laws to increase access to medical marijuana as a treatment option for epilepsy, including pediatric use as supported by a treating physician.
  3. Supporting the inclusion of epilepsy as a condition that uses medical marijuana as a treatment option where it is currently available.
  4. Supporting research on multiple forms of cannabis and seizures.

Current Volunteer Opportunities

Our Mission

With your help, The Epilepsy Foundation of San Diego County improves the lives of people affected by epilepsy through education, advocacy, research, and connection.Â