Medical Marijuana Boosts Hepatitis C Treatment in New Study

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Medical Marijuana Boosts Hepatitis C Treatment in New Study

 

UC San Francisco Researchers Find Marijuana Users Three Times More

Likely to Successfully Eliminate Virus

 

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications, 202-215-4205

or 415-668-6403

 

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA -A new study from the University of

California, San Francisco, just published in the European Journal of

Gastroenterology and Hepatology, suggests that medical marijuana

boosts the success of treatment for the hepatitis C virus (HCV).

 

Untreated HCV can lead to liver failure and death, but in the new

study, marijuana users being treated for HCV were three times more

likely to have a " sustained virological response " -- i.e. HCV could

not be detected six months after they completed treatment.

 

 

While extensive research has shown that marijuana can provide

symptom relief, this is believed to be the first published study

linking marijuana to improved cure rates for a life-threatening

illness.

 

 

HCV treatment utilizing the drugs ribavirin and interferon is

notorious for its severe side effects, including nausea, vomiting,

weight loss, sleeplessness, and depression, which cause many

patients to discontinue the long, demanding regimen prematurely. In

this study -- which focused on a difficult patient population:

seventy-one recovering drug users receiving methadone maintenance

while

simultaneously being treated for HCV -- those using marijuana were

significantly more likely to complete their treatment regimens. The

researchers, with UCSF and OASIS in Oakland, California, theorized

that marijuana relieved the patients' medication side effects

sufficiently to allow them to complete treatment, and

concluded, " our results suggest that moderate cannabis use during

HCV treatment may offer significant benefit to certain patients. "

 

 

Overall, 54 percent of marijuana users had a sustained virological

response, compared to only 18 percent of non-users. The study was

published alongside a commentary by a separate team of Canadian

researchers describing the evidence that marijuana relieves

debilitating side effects of treatment for HCV, cancer and AIDS, and

calling for patients to be " legally permitted " to use it.

 

 

San Francisco patient Brian Klein, 48, (not a participant in the

study) credits medical marijuana for enabling him to be successfully

cured of HCV in his second attempt at treatment, in 2003-4. " One of

the main reasons treatment succeeded was that I was able to stay on

my medications, " he said. " The first time I tried treating my HCV,

in 2001, the nausea was so bad I couldn't even keep water down, and

I had to stop after two months. Medical marijuana allowed me to

successfully treat my hepatitis C and clear the virus. "

 

 

 

" This is a landmark study, showing that medical marijuana can

literally save lives, " said Rob Kampia, executive director of the

Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. " Every day that our

government continues punishing the sick for using this medicine is

literally a crime against humanity. "

 

 

 

With more than 20,000 members and 100,000 e-mail rs

nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana

policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that

the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to

regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more

information, please visit http://www.mpp. org.

 

REFERENCES:

 

Sylvestre DL, Clements BJ and Malibu Y. Cannabis use improves

retention and virological outcomes in patients treated for hepatitis

C. European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology 2006,

18:1057-1063.

 

 

Fischer B et al. Treatment for hepatitis C virus and cannabis use in

illicit drug user patients: implications and questions.

European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology 2006, 18:1039-

1042.

 

####

 

-- Bruce Mirken, Director of Communications

 

-- Marijuana Policy Project

 

-- P.O. Box 77492 -- Capitol Hill -- Washington, D.C. 20013

 

-- http://www.mpp. org --

 

Bruce.Mirken@ MPP.ORG

 

-- phone 415-668-6403 (office)

 

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