HIV/AIDS and Medical Marijuana

Remember the AIDS epidemic? Seems like ages ago? Well folks, looming on the horizon is this insidious beast, HIV/ AIDS. It has never left us – just gone underground because of the spectacular success of the antiretroviral cocktail. Not everyone has access to the healthcare necessary to acquire the meds or has the knowledge that they are HIV positive.

By the end of 2015, there were 36.7 million cases of AIDS and HIV worldwide. Since the beginning of the Western world’s awareness of the virus, June 1981, there have been 35 million deaths worldwide. And there are 1.2 million people living with AIDS in the U.S. with 658,507 deaths, so far. There are typically 50,000 cases of HIV a year in this country. It is thought that there is about 7 million people worldwide that is HIV positive.

HIV, stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus which is spread through bodily fluids such as semen, blood and vaginal fluids. Babies can also acquire it breast-feeding. The worrisome thing is that 1 in 8 don’t know they are HIV positive. Worse yet, it could take some people ten years to show any signs of HIV.

AIDS is an acronym for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. HIV advances to AIDS when it affects the person with additional infections and slows and lowers the body’s CD4 or T-cell count. These cells contain common infections so they don’t cause further illnesses.

When I worked with gay guys in the 80s who were either HIV positive or had full-blown AIDS, it was a death sentence. You don’t know how sad it was hearing a 25-year old coughing with pneumonia from AIDS. Knowing it was a death sentence was terrible.

Then came the discovery of the AIDS cocktail, a combination of antiretroviral drugs given to the patient as a course of treatment. It is credited with lowering the mortality rate and extending lives, if one can afford it and can tolerate the mix of drugs.

Common reactions to these antiretroviral drugs are typically nausea, vomiting, and appetite and weight loss. As long as HIV and AIDS have existed, people have been using cannabis for various ailments that accompany these diseases. It is estimated that one in three patients use cannabis for symptoms such as nausea, appetite loss, pain and cachexia, which is weight loss and muscle wasting that cannot be reversed by eating more. That is the wasting disease of AIDS. This malnutrition may be a precursor for emotional decline.

Enter Cannabis. Patients who used cannabis along with their AIDS cocktail medications were 3.3 times more likely to stay with the drug regimen. Medical marijuana made it possible for those symptoms to either go away or substantially reduce the severity of said symptoms. Many, many studies have shown the efficacy of cannabis to alleviate nausea, weight loss and appetite loss. It is good for treating neuropathic pain, pain associated with the nervous system. It may also help in cases of depression, anxiety and stress.

But HIV infections are once again on the rise as another generation forgets the lessons of their elders. Young gay guys sleeping with other young gay guys assume no introduction of HIV into that circle. Well guess what? It’s Happened. There are ever increasing reports of young guys finding themselves HIV positive. There is also a rise in heterosexual infections recently; typically tied to the rise of HIV in the bisexual population.

Through this news of rising infections, there have been advancements in this area of research.

One 2012 study by Mt. Sinai School of Medicine found that a cannabinoid compound can block the mechanism which allows HIV to enter and infect healthy cells. There is a recent discovery that a compound of cannabis, Denbinobin, was mostly responsible for inhibiting HIV replication. This is amazing. Pre-empting AIDS. That’s big news for AIDS researchers.

Another possibly important discovery is that it was found that some cannabis compounds. See, early in an HIV infection, the virus gets a stronghold in the central nervous system. In a study by Temple University researchers, they found that brain inflammation can be linked to neurocognitive disorders, some cancers, bone disease and cardiovascular disease. Most antiretroviral drugs cannot pass through the blood-brain barrier that protects the brain.

But that same research found that CB2 binding compounds related to THC reduced replication of virus and brain inflammation.CB2 receptors are found mostly in the body and possess natural cannabinoid receptors.

So with about 70 percent of Americans supporting the use of medical marijuana for various ailments, research dollars should pour in but with this uncertain political climate, your guess is as good as mine as to whether there will be a place for cannabis in a physician’s bag. Hope for the best. Aloha.

CBDs: Basic Information

Read More

Gorilla Glue Strain Review

Read More

Chronic Pain and MMJ

Read More

Chernobyl Strain

Read More