HIV and Cannabis May Mix After All

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WEDNESDAY, Aug. 20, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- Short-term use of medical marijuana causes no harm to people with HIV who are on combination antiretroviral therapy, says a University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) study.

Researchers found no harmful changes in HIV levels in the participants when they smoked marijuana or took dronabinol, an oral medical cannabinoid.

The 25-day study included 62 HIV-infected people on antiretroviral regimens containing a protease inhibitor. The volunteers were divided into three groups: 20 smoked marijuana, 22 received dronabinol, and 20 received an oral placebo.

Researchers measured changes in HIV levels in the blood of the volunteers as well as the counts for CD 4 and CD 8 T lymphocyte cells, which are disease-fighting white blood cells that defend against infection and are targeted and destroyed by the AIDS virus.

In all three groups, patients with detectable levels of HIV had no change in the levels of virus in their blood. CD 4 T-cell counts increased by about 20 per cent for both the groups that used marijuana and dronabinol. CD 8 T-cell counts increased by 20 per cent in the marijuana group and by 10 per cent in the dronabinol group.

There was no increase in CD 4 or CD 8 T-cell counts in the placebo group.

The study was published in the Aug. 19 issue of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

"The change in lymphocyte counts for the smoked marijuana group is intriguing. At a minimum, it contradicts findings from previous studies suggesting that smoked marijuana suppresses the immune system," study author Dr. Donald Abrams, a USCF professor of clinical medicine, says in a news release.

"People with HIV are a vulnerable population, so successfully addressing the safety concerns allows us to move on to effectiveness studies, three of which are currently under way here," Abrams says.

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