cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Improves Adherence To Anti-HIV Therapy










  Marijuana Improves Adherence To Anti-HIV Therapy

Posted by CN Staff on February 12, 2005 at 08:44:43 PT
By Will Boggs, MD 
Source: Reuters Health 

New York -- HIV-infected patients with chronic nausea who use marijuana to combat the problem are more likely to adhere to antiretroviral therapy (ART), according to a report from California. This contrasts with the use of other illicit drugs, which is linked to poorer compliance."Moderate to severe nausea is not uncommon during the course of HIV disease and may significantly impact quality of life and limit patients' tolerance of and adherence to ART," Dr. Dennis M. Israelski, from Stanford University School of Medicine, told Reuters Health.
"Patients may not infrequently resort to the use of marijuana for purely medicinal purposes, including amelioration of side effects associated with antiretroviral treatment," he commented.Dr. Israelski and colleagues examined the relationship between marijuana use and adherence to ART in subgroups of patients with nausea and other clinical characteristics. Overall, there was no association between marijuana use and ART adherence, the team reports in the January 1st Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.When patients were analyzed by subgroup, however, patients with moderate to severe nausea who used marijuana were 3.3 times more likely to be adherent to their ART regimen as those who did not smoke marijuana. Among patients without nausea, the researchers note, marijuana users were only about half as likely to be adherent as nonusers of marijuana. There was no association between adherence and gender, age, ethnicity, low quality of life, pain, or use of specific classes of ART, the report indicates, but adherence was worse among patients who used other illicit drugs or alcohol. "Our data do suggest that use of smoked marijuana specifically for amelioration of nausea may be associated with adherence to ART among patients with HIV/AIDS," the authors conclude. "Given the estimated prevalence of about 25% of marijuana use among patients with HIV/AIDS (in our population), more formal characterization of the patterns and impact of cannabis use to alleviate HIV-associated symptoms is warranted," Dr. Israelski said. "We are, at present, conducting a randomized clinical trial study to evaluate the feasibility and safety of the use of marijuana for patients with HIV/AIDS in the outpatient setting," Dr. Israelski said. "This is, to our knowledge, the first NIDA-approved study for the use of marijuana in the outpatient setting." J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2005;38:43-46.Complete Title: Medicinal Marijuana Use Seen To Improve Adherence To Anti-HIV TherapyNewshawk: MayanSource: Reuters Health (Wire)Author: Will Boggs, MDPublished: February 11, 2005Copyright: 2005 Reuters Limited Related Articles & Web Site:Medical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmHIV and Cannabis May Mix After Allhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17112.shtmlUCSF Study Finds No Harm to HIV+ Patients http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17093.shtmlMarijuana Use Does Not Accelerate HIV Infectionhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17092.shtml 

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Comment #5 posted by WolfgangWylde on February 13, 2005 at 09:39:38 PT
This is nice....
...but won't carry much weight. Marijuana's efficacy for HIV patients was the precise reason the U.S. Government discontinued accepting new patients for its medical marijuana program. 
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Comment #4 posted by mayan on February 12, 2005 at 16:47:03 PT
Why Illicit?
HIV-infected patients with chronic nausea who use marijuana to combat the problem are more likely to adhere to antiretroviral therapy (ART), according to a report from California. This contrasts with the use of other illicit drugs, which is linked to poorer compliance.Perhaps cannabis shouldn't be "illicit". It is just so obvious now that cannabis is medicine. Since the news is slow here's an article regarding another killer pharmaceutical drug which has been pulled off the market in Canada but is still avaliable in the U.S. - Go figure...Health Canada pulls ADHD drug off the market:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1108050623458_2?hub=HealthHere's one on another pusher...Merck under fire again over mercury in vaccines: 
http://www.in-pharmatechnologist.com/news/news-ng.asp?n=58004-merck-under-fire
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Comment #3 posted by Had Enough on February 12, 2005 at 11:05:11 PT
Looks like it's getting better all the time
"We are, at present, conducting a randomized clinical trial study to evaluate the feasibility and safety of the use of marijuana for patients with HIV/AIDS in the outpatient setting," Dr. Israelski said. "This is, to our knowledge, the first NIDA-approved study for the use of marijuana in the outpatient setting."Well it's about time. This will help bring things to a close. 
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on February 12, 2005 at 09:59:03 PT
I Removed The Article
It was too intense. What it was about is Methamphetamine is now implicated in a strain of the AIDS virus that is untreatable.
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