STUDY CHECKS IF POT AFFECTS AIDS

Toronto researchers have launched a pilot project to study how marijuana
helps ease the pain incurred by HIV/AIDS sufferers.

The two-year study, announced yesterday, was launched by Community Research
Initiative of Toronto (CRIT), St. Michael's Hospital, Canadian HIV trials
network and Health Canada, said CRIT spokesman Derek Thaczuk.

"The amount of smoking will be left up to their own discretion," Thaczuk
said. "We want to duplicate real-life situations. A lot of people will use
it at a puff or two a time -- to maybe three or four times a day."

The hospital plans to recruit 32 candidates to study short-term exposure to
marijuana, how it interacts with other HIV medications and how it deals
with nausea, pain, mood and neurocognitive functions.

"This pioneering research project is to create scientific knowledge about
the safety and efficacy of smoked marijuana and its ability to increase
appetite in patients with HIV/AIDS," said Dr. Kevin Cough, St. Mike's
medical director of HIV service.

The study will use marijuana with varying strengths of THC.