marijuana

Megestrol acetate (Oster et al. 1994, VonRoenn et al. 1994) produces weight gain that is predominantly fat, with very little increase in lean body mass. Dronabinol (9-THC feminized cannabis seeds) has been studied in patients with cancer (Nelson et al. 1994; Plasse et al. 1991) and AIDS (Gorter et al. 1992), who showed increased weight gain. Beal and colleagues (1995) studied dronabinol as treatment for anorexia associated with weight loss in patients with AIDS. A significant increase in appetite was seen with a decrease in nausea, and a mood increase that was not significant. The 6-week study may have been too short to fully capture the effects of dronabinol.