Hepatitis C and Cannabis’s Positive Effects and Scientific Journal Supporting Info

Hepatitis C and Cannabis’s Positive Effects and Scientific Journal Supporting Info
Dean Edell, MD, a physician and radio show host, stated in a Nov. 30, 2000 article “I’m Getting Treatment For Hepatitis C. Will Marijuana Help Me Or Harm Me?” in response to a letter from an individual with Hepatitis C using marijuana, posted on HealthCentral.com:

“People…have used marijuana to fight nausea with no negative consequences and any anti-nausea drug that the doctor gives you will also be metabolized by the liver. I feel more secure with your liver trying to handle marijuana. Marinol, the FDA-approved pill form of marijuana has shown no toxicity to the liver.

I would estimate marijuana to be as safe as anything else. Interferon and ribarvirin is a pretty hefty combination that can be curative in a significant percentage of cases. It’s basically all we have for hepatitis C. Interferon can make you pretty sick, but ribarvirin is fairly easy on you. They are both antiviral drugs.”

Nov. 30, 2000 – Click Here for Source Info

Rick Weiss, a science and medical reporter, discussed the study noted above (by Benedikt Fischer et al.) in his article “Marijuana Aids Therapy,” published Sept. 13, 2006 in theWashington Post:

“Marijuana can improve the effectiveness of drug therapy for hepatitis C, a potentially deadly viral infection that affects more than 3 million Americans, a study has found. The work adds to a growing literature supporting the notion that in some circumstances pot can offer medical benefits.

Treatment for hepatitis C involves months of therapy with two powerful drugs, interferon and ribavirin, that have severe side effects, including extreme fatigue, nausea, muscle aches, loss of appetite and depression. Because of those side effects, many patients do not finish treatment and the virus ends up destroying their livers.

While it is possible that the marijuana had a specific, positive biomedical effect, it is more likely that it helped patients by reducing depression, improving appetite and offering psychological benefits that helped the patients tolerate the treatment’s side effects, the team reports in the current issue of the European Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology.”

Sep. 13, 2006 – Click here for source Info

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