Conventional treatment of HIV/AIDS involves the use of drugs called antiretroviral. Though these drugs are helpful in treating the disease, but in most cases, they cause side effects like nausea, vomiting, depression, anxiety, weight loss, and cachexia, which can lead to AIDS wasting syndrome.
These side effects can be severe enough to force the patient to abandon the treatment thereby making the disease worse. According to a report in the Journal for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, cannabis contains cannabinoids such as THC and terpenoids, which can help treat side effects from antiretroviral therapy, as well as the symptoms associated with the disease itself.
Below are a few examples of the benefits of medical marijuana for HIV/AIDS:
Stimulates appetite
Reduces nausea
Manages continuous vomiting
Reduces joint and muscle pain
Reduces peripheral neuropathic pain
Other studies have shown that medical marijuana helps manage inflammation of the brain caused by HIV/AIDS by restricting the virus from attaching to cells and restraining the virus from replicating.