Study to Determine if Cannabis Can Treat HIV
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]D[/dropcap]espite federal threats, a study is underway, looking at the effects of cannabis on the digestive system and other areas in people living with HIV. AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (ACTU) at the University of Washington is looking for scientific proof that cannabis can aid in treating HIV.
The study, Impact of Cannabis on Inflammation and Viral Persistence in Treated HIV/SIV is being funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. (SIV is monkey HIV that is commonly studied in science before human testing.)
In June 2017, researchers sought out paid volunteers through local media. They were looking for both HIV-positive women and men with an undetectable (under control) viral load, as well as HIV-negative women and men.
Michael Louella spoke to KOMO News, celebrating the progress being made through ACTU’s findings. “It was mind-blowing,” Louella said referring to the study’s original approval. “Our director, Ann Collier, stopped me in the hallway and told me the idea, and I just thought ‘hallelujah!’” Louella works with Eric Helgeson, RN, at the ACTU.
“We know that people with HIV, when they get infected, it affects the inflammation in the gut,” Helgeson said. Digestive problems are extremely common, due to the inevitable side effects of antiretroviral drugs—drugs that people living with HIV are consigned to take, every day for the rest of their lives. HIV drug regimens can cause kidney problems, liver problems or hallucinations.
Inflammation and neuropathic pain are very common in people living with HIV, but few studies can back it up cannabis’ benefits with concrete data. Some would argue that there are few risks, by simply adding medical cannabis, especially when harsh drugs are already a part of daily life. Daily cannabis use has little or no impact on HIV clinical outcomes, a previous study suggested last year.
AIDS activists have been turning to medical cannabis since for decades, but ongoing research will help us calculate how it works and how effective it can be.
