MARIJUANA-LIKE DRUG IS DISAPPOINTMENT IN MAYO STUDY

A marijuana-like drug was less effective than standard treatment in
helping cancer patients fight appetite loss and weight loss,
researchers at the Mayo Clinic say.

Their study disappointed scientists who had hoped to find a better way
of treating a problem that plagues more than half of patients with
advanced cancer.

The researchers compared Marinol, a synthetic version of THC, one of
the active ingredients in marijuana, with a drug that's routinely used
to curb appetite loss, megestrol acetate, in 469 people with advanced
cancer.

They found that 49 percent of those taking Marinol reported improved
appetite, compared with 75 percent on megestrol. In addition, only 3
percent of the Marinol group gained weight, compared with 11 percent
of the megestrol group.

"These findings should dampen enthusiasm for using marijuana
derivatives for this purpose," said Dr. Aminah Jatoi, a Mayo clinic
oncologist and an author of the study, which appeared in the January
issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. She said this was the first
such study of its kind.

However, it's not likely to sway supporters of medical marijuana
use.

"What's striking about the study is it didn't use marijuana ... so it
certainly tells you nothing about marijuana itself," said Bruce
Mirken, a spokesman for the Washington-Based Marijuana Policy Project.
He said marijuana contains 60 active chemicals in addition to THC,
while Marinol, the brand name for the drug dronabinol, contains just
THC (tetrahydrocannabinol).

"We think it's very important that these sorts of studies on Marinol
not be used erroneously to rule out the efficacy of marijuana," he
said.

But Jatoi said that wasn't their goal. "We did this study hoping that
something would have been better than the standard treatment," she
said.