Marijuana As Medicine? The Science Beyond the Controversy (2001) / Chapter Skim
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Marijuana and AIDS
Marijuana and AIDS
Pages 86-94
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From page 86... ...
For example, each of the three California cannabis buyers' clubs organizations that provide marijuana to patients visited by the IOM team reported that more than 60 percent of their members requested the drug for AIDS treatment. Age is often cited as the reason why such a large proportion of medical marijuana users in the United States are people with AIDS (this is not the case elsewhere; in Great Britain, for example, multiple sclerosis appears to predominate among medical marijuana users)
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From page 87... ...
In particular, those who take highly effective antiviral drugs called protease inhibitors often suffer from nausea and vomiting similar to that experienced by cancer patients during chemotherapy. Just how effectively marijuana and cannabinoids reduce the
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From page 88... ...
Death from wasting generally occurs when patients drop to more than one-third below their ideal weight. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines AIDS wasting syndrome as the involuntary loss of more than 10 percent of body weight, accompanied by diarrhea or fever that lasts more than 30 days and is not attributable to another illness.
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From page 89... ...
and long-term (one year) studies, patients who received THC in the form of Marinol tended to experience increased appetite while maintaining a stable weight.3 In addition, five patients in a preliminary study gained an average of 1 percent body fat after taking the drug for five weeks.4 Some patients in these and other studies have experienced unpleasant side effects from the drug, ranging from dry mouth to psychological distress.
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From page 90... ...
For example, cannabinoid drugs might be used to boost patients' food consumption while they undergo physical therapy or take medications designed to increase the proportion of lean tissues in their bodies. PAN In addition to appetite stimulation, marijuana-based medicines may prove helpful in treating a variety of painful symptoms associated with AIDS.
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From page 91... ...
But a recent study concluded that for AIDS and cancer patients euphoria was a "desirable side effect" of treatment with Marinol. The study, conducted at San Francisco's Haight Ashbury Clinic, also found that Marinol has a low potential for abuse by patients and that the drug is rarely, if ever, diverted to the black market.6 Not everyone, though, reacts positively to marijuana and its active ingredients.
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From page 92... ...
Research indicates that people with HIV who regularly smoke marijuana suffer higher rates of opportunistic infections and Kaposi's sarcoma. Smoking is a very efficient way to get the active chemicals in marijuana into the bloodstream, but the long-term damage smoking causes makes it a poor drug delivery system, particularly for patients with chronic illnesses such as HIV.
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From page 93... ...
The IOM team suggested that people suffering from chronic conditions, including AIDS wasting, could be treated as participants in singlepatient clinical trials, carefully monitored and conducted with institutional approval. Once admitted to such trials, patients would be permitted to smoke marijuana under medical supervision but only after being fully informed of their status as experimental subjects and of the harms inherent in using smoking as a delivery system.
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From page 94... ...
4. Struwe M, Kaempfer SH, Geiger Cl, Pavia AT, Plasse TF, Shepard KV, Ries K, Evans TG.
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