Symptoms associated with HIV infection include pain, headaches, reduced appetite, nausea,
vomiting, weight loss, diarrhea, constipation, depression and anxiety. These symptoms occur as
both direct and indirect consequences of the HIV infection and as well as side effects of
antiretroviral drugs used to treat the disease. Uncontrolled observational questionnaire data
involving 143 patients with HIV who also used cannabis suggest substantial subjective benefit
from the use of cannabis to manage many of the above symptoms (Woolridge et al., 2005).
Controlled clinical trials showing a positive benefit of the use of medical cannabis to treat
symptoms related to HIV are limited to painful peripheral neuropathy, and HIV/AIDS wasting
syndrome.
In a 2007 study, 55 patients with HIV-related painful sensory neuropathy were randomized in a
blinded fashion to smoke a 0.9 gm cannabis cigarette three times per day over five days
containing 3.6% THC (active treatment), or an identical-appearing 0.9 gm cannabis cigarette in
which the THC had been chemically extracted (placebo). Patients receiving active treatment
reported a 34% reduction in HIV-related neuropathic pain compared to 17% reduction for
placebo. (Abrams et al., 2007).
A systematic review published in 2015 identified four randomized controlled trials involving 255
patients with HIV/AIDS wasting syndrome. All four studies included dronabinol, with one
investigating inhaled cannabis as well. Three trials were placebo-controlled, and one used the
progestational agent, megestrol acetate, as the comparator. The review authors concluded that
there was some evidence suggesting that cannabinoids were effective in causing weight gain in
patients with HIV/AIDS (Whiting et al., 2015).
Source: https://medicalcannabis.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/HIV_AIDS_Chronic-Pain_.pdf