Investigators at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center assessed the impact of chronic intramuscular THC administration compared to placebo on immune and metabolic indicators of SIV disease during the initial six-month phase of infection.

Researchers reported, “Contrary to what we expected, … delta-9-THC treatment clearly did not increase disease progression, and indeed resulted in generalized attenuation of classic markers of SIV disease.” Authors also reported that THC administration was associated with “decreased early mortality from SIV infection” and “retention of body mass.”

Investigators concluded, “These results indicate that chronic delta-9-THC does not increase viral load or aggravate morbidity and may actually ameliorate SIV disease progression.”

Clinical trials have previously documented that the short-term inhalation of cannabis does not adversely impact viral loads in HIV patients, and may even improve immune function.

Additional studies documenting the disease modifying potential of marijuana is available in the NORML handbook, Emerging Clinical Applications For Cannabis & Cannabinoids: Fourth Edition, available online here.

Additional information on this suit will appear in this week’s NORML news update. To receive these e-mail updates free, please sign up here.

Updated and revised for 2011, this report reviews approximately 200 newly published scientific studies assessing the safety and efficacy of marijuana and its compounds in the treatment and management of nineteen clinical indications: Alzheimer’s disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), chronic pain, diabetes mellitus, dystonia, fibromyalgia, gastrointestinal disorders, gliomas and other cancers, hepatitis C, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hypertension, incontinence, methicillin-resistant Staphyloccus aureus (MRSA), multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, pruritus, rheumatoid arthritis, sleep apnea, and Tourette’s syndrome.

Explains the report’s lead author, NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano: “The conditions profiled in this report were chosen because patients frequently inquire about the therapeutic use of cannabis to treat these disorders. In addition, many of the indications included in this report may be moderated by cannabis therapy. In several cases, preclinical data and clinical data indicates that cannabinoids may halt the progression of these diseases in a more efficacious manner than available pharmaceuticals.”

The updated report also features a new section, authored by osteopath and medical cannabis specialist Dr. Dustin Sulak, highlighting the significance of the endocannabinoid system and its role in maintaining mental and physiological health.

“As we continue to sort through the emerging science of cannabis and cannabinoids, one thing remains clear: a functional cannabinoid system is essential for health,” writes Dr. Sulak. “From embryonic implantation on the wall of our mother’s uterus, to nursing and growth, to responding to injuries, endocannabinoids help us survive in a quickly changing and increasingly hostile environment. As I realized this, I began to wonder: can an individual enhance his/her cannabinoid system by taking supplemental cannabis? Beyond treating symptoms, beyond even curing disease, can cannabis help us prevent disease and promote health by stimulating an ancient system that is hard-wired into all of us? I now believe the answer is yes.”

Full text of the report is now available online here. Hard copies will be available for purchase shortly. Print copies of the third edition of this report will be made available at a reduced rate for those seeking bulk orders. (Please e-mail NORML for further details.)

According to WCTU: “Perhaps the greatest tragedy in the use of marijuana is the fact that the harm is so subtle that it is not realized by the user until severe damage has taken place.”

OK….

Recently a college student contacted NORML rightly confused that after conducting extensive online research and presenting a speech regarding the benefits of legalizing cannabis (a favorite topic among college students to be sure!) her college professor told her that cannabis is very harmful, so much so that 20% of AIDS patients who use cannabis die prematurely because of ‘immune deficiency syndrome’.*

When the student asked her professor for a citation for the claim, she was given the URL to the anti-cannabis section of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union’s webpage.

WCTU also claims that nearly 20% of all drug-related deaths in 1999 were attributable to cannabis. However, the WCTU webpage lacks substantive citations or references. Heck, they have no love for hemp either!

Still Crazy After All These Years…
The WCTU was wrong-headed about fostering alcohol prohibition as a means of social control in the same way that it and numerous other so-called anti-drug organizations that exist today, many of which are little more than organs of state or federal government anti-drug bureaucracies (i.e., Partnership for a Drug-Free America, National Families in Action or Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America) are equally wrong to foster public policies that treat responsible adult cannabis consumers as violent criminals.

*According to the most recent scientific research, cannabis use by HIV-AIDS patients is not only common it apparently is a safe therapeutic that does not compromise the human immune system.