compromise treatment?

[cruelworld]

anyone think light marijuana use compromises treatment? ive always heard that it suppresses the immune system, is that even true?

[jboyhk]

I thought I read somewhere recently that marijuana use is not good for the liver (smokers had higher cirhosis rates).

On the positive side, studies are showing that marijuna  (THC) acts as an anti-tumor agent against lung cancer.

[jmjm530]

Wish I had time to dig up some old threads and studies but going out the door, so take these comments as recollections to be double-checked.

A number of studies suggest that chronic marijuana smoking is bad for the liver and accelerates fibrosis (liver damage). On the other hand, a newer study (and many doctors) suggest that marijuana use DURING treatment can be a big help in terms of side effects, especially nausea. For that reason medical marijuana is often prescribed since doctors don't prescribe illegal substances.

So...where I come out is that marijuana smoking is bad for the liver except during treatment where it may have benefits in helping people comply with their drug doses by alleviating many side effects.

-- Jim

[nygirl7]

Since nobody knows for sure - it might be worth it to do it only when absolutely necessary and not chance it.

For every study that says it's good you can probably find one that says it's bad, you know?

But logically it's more stress on the liver to have to process all the extra toxins (but I can't talk really becuase I found it impossible to quit smoking cigarettes during treatment as bad as I knew it was even when I had a six point hemo drop in ten days...I laid in bed so I wouldn't faint and smoked. Smart huh?)

[neptune235]

I'm not certain that the studies Jim mentions actually proved a causal link between chronic marijuana use (as in daily) and advancing fibrosis.

I *think* (and again, I could just be blowing smoke, as it were) that the studies just demonstrated a correlation.  There could be many causes.  It could be that chronic dopers also have higher injection drug use histories, or increased alcohol consumption, etc.

We have to be careful to parse the language of these studies carefully, and to not infer things that studies in fact do not say.

[Kalio1]

Amen, Neptune. That thinking can also apply to all studies we read, you make a very salient point.  That point should be well considered when looking at studies of marijuana use as often the population the study participants are taken from are rehab centers and prisons. Obviously there is a known higher rate of substance abuse ( of all types of substances) amongst this population which does affect the study results. I am referring to the same study Neptune referred to, the study that attempts to make a causal correlation between higher levels of liver damage and pot smoking. Also one must look to the financiers of such studies to analyse the motivation for the results.

Several studies have shown that marijuana use helped to reduce the treatment drop out rates for patients on therapy due to it's mitigation of some of the side effects ( primarily pain and nausea) caused by treatment.

[cruelworld]

it seems that through the years even though there is great incentive to prove all these bad things about marijuaana, nothing ever seems to emerge. how incredible? it seems ive never even seen anything about resulting lung problems, and even i would wonder how you could smoke (marijuanana only) all your life and not hurt your lungs. if the legends of willie nelson are true (chronic continuous smoker), it seems like someone like that would eventually have a problem associated with it, and the news organizations as well as the govt would trumpet those results. surely the govt has spent millions trying to "prove" how dangerous the drug is. yet after all these years it appears to me to be the least dangerous of all the mind altering drugs.

[jmjm530]

Here are a few studies you might want to look over. All talk about accelerated rates of fibrosis and/or stetosis with Cannabis use. But as mentioned before, cannabis can effectively be used during treatment to combat side effects and therefore help compliance.

All the best,

-- Jim

http://www.natap.org/2005/HCV/062705_01.htm

http://www.hivandhepatitis.com/2007icr/easl/docs/042407_c.html

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Gastroenterology/2005AASLDMeeting/tb/4395

[Kalio1]

And just to confuse more, here's a study showing marijuana reduces your chances of Altzheimers.

I read also that it is showing reduces cancer instances too. I will post that one too. Here's the Altzheimers study

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061018151055.htm

[badchoice]

Chicago SunTimes 5/3 has article on IL Senate vote to legalize medical marijuana.  Advanced practice nurses could write for--and that group does support.  Yeah...AMA opposes.
The witch doctors want to control our lives. A web cite:
http://www.medicalmarijuanaprocon.org/bin/procon/procon.cgi?database=5%2dD%2dSubs%2edb&command=viewone&id=18&op=t