Pubdate: Fri, 16 Feb 2007
Source: Ely Times (NV)
Copyright: 2007 The Ely Times
Contact:  http://www.elynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2325
Author: Paul Elias, AP Biotechnology Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)

HIV PATIENTS: MARIJUANA EASES FOOT PAIN

SAN FRANCISCO - Smoking marijuana eased HIV -related pain in some 
patients in a small study that nevertheless represented one of the 
few rigorous attempts to find out if the drug has medicinal benefits.

The study, conducted at San Francisco General Hospital from 2003 to 
2005 and published Monday in the journal Neurology, involved 50 
patients suffering from HIV-related foot pain known as peripheral 
neuropathy. There are no drugs specifically approved to treat that 
kind of pain.

Half the patients received marijuana, while the other 25 received 
placebo cigarettes that lacked the drug's active ingredient, 
tetrahydrocannabinol. Scientists said the study was the first one 
published that used a comparison group, which is generally considered 
the gold standard for scientific research.

"These results provide evidence that there is measurable medical 
benefit to smoking cannabis for these patients," said Dr. Donald 
Abrams, the University of California, San Francisco professor who led 
the study.

"People who smoke marijuana are subject to bacterial infections in 
the lungs," said David Murray, chief scientist at the Office of 
National Drug Control Policy. "Is this really what a physician who is 
treating someone with a compromised immune system wants to prescribe?"

Dr. Mark Ware, a researcher at McGill University in Montreal 
conducting similar tests, defended Abrams' study as sound and 
statistically reliable.

"This is a valid medicine and I want safe access to my medication," 
said Diana Dodson, a 50-year-old grandmother of five who participated 
in the test in 2004.

California and 10 other states have passed laws legalizing marijuana 
for medicinal purposes, but the federal government considers it a 
dangerous drug, like cocaine or heroin. The U.S. Supreme Court U.S. 
Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that state laws do not protect users from 
the federal ban.

The study cost about $1 million and was paid for by the University of 
California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, which has 
sponsored several smoked marijuana tests.

On the Net:

Neurology journal: http://www.neurology.org
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman