Does Marijuana have Medical Value?

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Nausea and vomiting are common side effects of treatments for many deadly illnesses, including cancer, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS. In severe cases this can lead to life-threatening wasting, and can force patients to discontinue the treatment that could keep them alive. In its 1999 White House-commissioned review of the medical evidence, the prestigious Institute of Medicine reported, "Nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety are all afflictions of wasting and all can be mitigated by marijuana."

Relief of these treatment side effects can literally save lives. A study from the University of California, San Francisco, published in the September 2006 European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, found that marijuana users being treated for the hepatitis C virus (HCV) were three times more likely than those who didn’t use marijuana to have a “sustained virological response” — i.e. HCV could not be detected six months after they completed treatment, the outcome considered the standard for successful HCV treatment. The marijuana-using patients were much more likely to successfully complete their anti-HCV drug regimens, leading the researchers to credit marijuana with relief of the drugs’ notoriously noxious side effects, concluding, “Our results suggest that moderate cannabis use during HCV treatment may offer significant benefit to certain patients.”

Prior studies have documented similar safe and effective relief of nausea and vomiting caused by cancer chemotherapy and anti-HIV drugs, enabling patients to continue life-saving treatment.