Cannabis News NORML - Working to Reform Marijuana Laws
  Marijuana Use Does Not Accelerate HIV Infection
Posted by CN Staff on August 18, 2003 at 16:28:22 PT
By Reuters Health 
Source: Reuters  

medical New York -- Short-term cannabis use does not seem to adversely affect CD4+ cell counts or viral loads in HIV-infected patients, according to a report published in the August 19th issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

In HIV-infected patients, marijuana has been used as an appetite stimulant and as a treatment for the nausea associated with some antiretroviral agents. However, concern has been raised that such therapy could have a harmful effect on disease status, because in theory, cannabinoid use could increase HIV levels by impairing the immune response or by interfering with the activity of protease inhibitors.

Previously it was shown that short-term marijuana use did not influence nelfinavir metabolism. Although marijuana use did produce a drop in indinavir levels, this fall was small and unlikely to be clinically meaningful. However, it still remained unclear whether cannabinoid use had an effect on viral load or CD+ cell counts.

To investigate, Dr. Donald I. Abrams, from the University of California at San Francisco, and colleagues assessed the outcomes of 67 HIV-infected patients who were randomly assigned to use marijuana cigarettes, cannabinoid capsules, or sugar pills (placebo) three times daily for 21 days. All of the patients had been receiving the same antiretroviral regimen, which included indinavir or nelfinavir, for at least 8 weeks before the study began.

More than half of the subjects in each group had undetectable viral loads throughout the study, the researchers note. Although not statistically significant, marijuana and cannabinoid use were actually associated with a slight drop in viral load compared with placebo use.

Marijuana and cannabinoid use did not produce a drop in CD4+ or CD8+ cell counts. In fact, compared with placebo use, treatment with these agents was actually associated with a slight increase in cell counts.

The results suggest that short-term cannabinoid use is not unsafe for patients with HIV infection, the authors note. "Further studies investigating the therapeutic potential of marijuana and other cannabinoids in patients with HIV infection and other populations are ongoing and should provide additional safety information over longer exposure periods," they write.

SOURCE: Annals of Internal Medicine, August 9, 2003.

Source: Reuters Health
Published: August 18, 2003
Copyright: 2003 Reuters

CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives
http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml


Home    Comment    Email    Register    Recent Comments    Help

 
Comment #6 posted by Lehder on August 19, 2003 at 06:02:02 PT
publishing
We all know how the government's many agendas can contort science via of funding biases. But this statement

"It remains true that therapeutic claims for cannabis are very hard to publish."

seems to indict the journal and its editors for political prejudice at the conclusion of the work, on the basis of the results, not their veracity, and needs some elaboration to stand.

First of all, it's far from unheard of that a publication should be delayed by three years and for relatively innocent reasons.

This particular paper sure has a lot of authors, as if it involved the top quark or a new resonance at CERN. Maybe it was a weak paper and the referees required extensive revision; and maybe it's hard to satisfy several authors with those revisions. I know nothing of the geneaology of this paper.

Also, indecent infighting, professional rivalry, even plagiarism and (recently at Bell Labs ) outright fabrication of experiment are as old as science itself and one of the joys that anyone with a few publications must adapt to.

The scientific community would welcome the exposure of an unconscious prejudice. They are more urgent matters if journal editors are themselves either politically prejudiced in treatment of submissions, or if the government somehow intimidates them to discriminate according to the substance of peer accepted conclusions.



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #5 posted by kaptinemo on August 19, 2003 at 05:22:26 PT:

Sorry, the link was screwed up
This one will work:

http://cannabisnews.com/news/5/thread5972.shtml



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on August 19, 2003 at 05:19:57 PT:

"Treason doth never prosper..", Doc
as anyone who does any political reading knows, the rest of the couplet goes:

"...what's the reason? If treason DOTH prosper, none dare call it treason."

What the Federal government has done since the report concerning the efficacy of cannabinoids in shrinking brain tumors (see "Pot Shrinks Tumors: Government Knew in 74" http://cannabisnews.com/news/5/thread5972.shtml) came out has been to act with what amounts to 'malice, aforethought" with regards to retarding exploitation of cannabis products for medicinal purposes.

"Our" government. Using our money...to deliberately stonewall research...regarding the usefulness of a plant...which could save the lives of millions of people.

"Our" government...prospers from treason.



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on August 18, 2003 at 19:47:25 PT
Dr. Russo, it's time to go to war
Let's make an issue out of this bias. I could rejoin the AAAS and start agitating about Abrams and bias and bring in the science studies folk.

This really is a classic situation where science ends up being biased by assumptions and situations regarding race, class, gender, and politics.

The social and political bias in science regarding medical marijuana would make an excellent thesis topic for some bright science studies student.



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #2 posted by FoM on August 18, 2003 at 16:49:03 PT
Dr. Russo
This is wonderful news. I'm very happy about this report.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo MD on August 18, 2003 at 16:38:36 PT:

Bravo
Applause to Dr. Abrams for doing the study. Shame to the world of medical publishing that it took more than 3 years to get it accepted. The concept in and of itself is absurd. This study was NIH-funded, and it requires 10,000 machinations to achieve that alone. If there were a problem with the design, it would never have received approval.

It remains true that therapeutic claims for cannabis are very hard to publish. Alleged side effects are easily accepted, in marked contrast.

[ Post Comment ]


  Post Comment
Name:        Password:
E-Mail:

Subject:

Comment:   [Please refrain from using profanity in your message]

Link URL:
Link Title:


Return to Main Menu


So everyone may enjoy this service and to keep it running, here are some guidelines: NO spamming, NO commercial advertising, NO flamming, NO illegal activity, and NO sexually explicit materials. Lastly, we reserve the right to remove any message for any reason!

This web page and related elements are for informative purposes only and thus the use of any of this information is at your risk! We do not own nor are responsible for visitor comments. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 and The Berne Convention on Literary and Artistic Works, Article 10, news clippings on this site are made available without profit for research and educational purposes. Any trademarks, trade names, service marks, or service names used on this site are the property of their respective owners. Page updated on August 18, 2003 at 16:28:22