cannabisnews.com: Study Finds Pot Safe for AIDS Patients Study Finds Pot Safe for AIDS Patients Posted by FoM on July 14, 2000 at 07:38:56 PT Editorial Source: Toronto Star Durban, South Africa - In the first government-sanctioned test of the effects of marijuana on people infected with the AIDS virus, a San Francisco study has found that the patients on pot came out of a 21-day trial just as fit and quite a bit fatter than when they started.Dr. Donald Abrams, a researcher at the University of California at San Francisco, reported the results of the one-year, $1 million study Thursday at the 13th International AIDS Conference. His findings may be less significant than the fact that research involving marijuana took place. Abrams secured funding for the experiment from the National Institute of Drug Abuse only after years of failed attempts to convince the government that research was needed on the medical effects of street drugs routinely consumed by HIV-infected patients. ``It's exciting; it's historic. It confirms that all the states that have allowed patients to use medical marijuana have not made a serious mistake,'' Abrams said. In San Francisco Thursday, Dale Gieringer, the California director of NORML, the national organization seeking to legalize marijuana, said the Abrams report ``certainly establishes what we've said all along - that marijuana is safe and effective and that the government hasn't got a leg to stand on by preventing its medical use.'' According to Gieringer, thousands of patients are already using marijuana ``semi-legally'' as a result of the solid victory that Proposition 215, the medical marijuana initiative, scored in 1996. Medical uses of pot are theoretically legal in California as a result of that vote, but federal drug enforcement officials have insisted they would enforce the federal ban anyway. At least half the Californians now using marijuana at the suggestion of their physicians are AIDS patients, Gieringer said, and they know it helps subdue the nausea and loss of appetite that are common side effects of the antiviral medicines they must take. Medical marijuana is legal in seven other states besides California: Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. By design, and at the insistence of government funders, the Abrams study did not set out to prove or disprove the contention of medical marijuana advocates that smoking pot can improve the appetite, body weight and well-being of patients with AIDS, cancer and other wasting diseases. Abrams' stated goal in this study was to determine whether the chemical components of marijuana in any way interfered with the body's ability to break down the components of protease inhibitors. These are the newest class of antiviral drugs that, taken in combination with others, have helped thousands of HIV-infected patients retain the health of their immune systems. Previous lab tests had hinted that there could be a problem with drug-to-drug interaction, because the active ingredients of both pot and protease drugs are broken down by the same enzyme. After examining results from 62 subjects who completed the trials, Abrams concluded that there was no change in the level of virus in the blood of patients who smoked marijuana or who took Marinol, a prescription drug containing the active ingredients of marijuana. ``We also took a little peek to see if there was any change in appetite, caloric intake and body composition,'' Abrams said. In simple terms, did the marijuana give the HIV-infected patients ``the munchies,'' causing them to eat more and gain weight? The study results show that they certainly did. The 20 patients who smoked marijuana - three times a day for 21 days - gained an average of 7.7 pounds during the study period while 22 patients taking Marinol gained 7 pounds, and the remaining 20 given a placebo gained only 2.9 pounds. The patients assigned to smoke pot were given three joints of what Abrams called ``government grade'' marijuana, which is about one third as potent as marijuana commonly sold on the streets or purchased at buyers' clubs. Patients taking either the Marinol or the placebo were given unlabeled pills. They did not know whether they were taking the active ingredient or the dummy pill. One of the curious findings of the study was that nine of the 20 patients given the dummy pill thought they were given Marinol. By any standard, the marijuana study was an unusual event in the annals of science. Patients from all around the country who heard about the study volunteered to enroll in it. They were essentially locked up in a unit of San Francisco General Hospital for the 21 days of their trial. Those who smoked marijuana had to do so in a closed room with ventilation, so that secondhand smoke would not affect the test subjects taking the pills. Each patient had a refrigerator loaded with snacks next to his or her bed. The refrigerators were locked at midnight. Abrams acknowledges that the consumption of psychoactive substances produced some interesting behavior, but he said he will be reporting on that at a later time. ``You saw what you might expect from people smoking marijuana in a confined setting for 21 straight days,'' he said. Typically, there were three patients being tested at the hospital during any given day. The experiment did produce a number of adverse effects. One patient who smoked marijuana left the study after experiencing ``neuropsychiatric symptoms.'' Among those taking Marinol, one left with neuropsychiatric symptoms; one quit after suffering headaches and nausea; and one patient died 58 days after completing the test from an internal hemorrhage that is believed to have been unrelated to the study. In California, San Mateo County health officials said Thursday they have received ``informal and conditional approval'' for a somewhat similar marijuana study from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and are awaiting the required approval from the Food and Drug Administration plus authority to obtain the marijuana from the Drug Enforcement Administration. According to Ron Robertson, chief operating officer at San Mateo Community General Hospital, the county's proposal would involve AIDS patients smoking marijuana or placebo as outpatients rather than being confined to a hospital setting during the controlled clinical trial. Published: July 14, 2000 Copyright* 1996-2000 Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. Related Articles & Web Site:California NORMLhttp://www.canorml.org/Study Finds Marijuana Use Safe for HIV Patients http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6383.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives:http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #4 posted by bbk on July 18, 2000 at 17:17:15 PT gov. ditch weed i think the gov. d.w. comes pre rolled with seeds,stems,etc.like the 8 legal mmj [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by nl5x on July 18, 2000 at 17:12:44 PT even ditch weed works they used the ditch weed from n.i.d.a in this study.3.9% thcthose gu [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Mari on July 14, 2000 at 13:52:42 PT Govt. Spin Based on past example, the govt. will likely focas on two aspects of this report.[1]They will point out that there was little difference in results between patients taking Marinol and those smoking marijuana;[2]They will point to the patients that were reported to have experienced "neuro-psychiatric symptoms" as examples of pots 'dangerous side-effects'.I don't expect that this report will be given the consideration it is due. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on July 14, 2000 at 10:44:07 PT: Meanwhile, millions suffer and die. This study did more than prove, *unequivocally*, that cannabis is a benign and useful mediceine. It also proved that the blood of perhaps millions of AIDS sufferer's, cancer victims, MS victims, you name it, is dripping from the hands of a government that lied about cannabis for 63 years, and has done EVERYTHING in its' power to forstall the kind of research Dr. Abrams performed.So long as the study was conducted - and the results released - in the US, the Powers That Be could pooh-pooh it as being bogus, and insultingly imply that 'pothead doctors' (as that benighted clown Orrin Hatch referered to the distinguished physicians and scientists of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedlic studies as being) had stacked the results.But the word is out, now the whole planet knows. Indeed, "The whole world *is* watching" as the Chicago '68 and Seattle '99 protesters had shouted in the face of massive police brutality. Another form of brutality, cloaked in genteel legal language, has been savaging our lives for 63 years, and has now been effectively aired in public for the world to see. The nation that has led and goaded the rest of the world into following its madness must now explain that it was wrong...and that millions have died because of its blindness and arrogance. The spin doctors of the Administration and the major parties must be rotating so fast they are drilling holes in the floors beneath them, trying to come up with some new b******t to explain this one away. I can hardly wait. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: