New Research Snapshot! What is the relationship between cannabis use and alcohol use for people living with HIV?

What you need to know:

This is the first study of people living with HIV in Ontario that looks at the link between cannabis use and alcohol use over time. Increases in recreational cannabis use were associated with increases in alcohol use, while increases in medicinal cannabis use were not. The findings are relevant as heavy drinking has negative outcomes for people with HIV.

What is this research about?

More than half of people living with HIV report having tried cannabis in their lifetime. While studies have reported the potential benefits of cannabis use for symptom management, cannabis use is also associated with health risks such as risky sexual behaviors, cannabis dependence, and increased risk of using other substances, such as alcohol. Heavy drinking in turn is associated with negative health outcomes such as poor adherence to HIV/AIDS treatment, risky sexual behaviors and increased mortality.
This study looked at the association between cannabis use and alcohol use among people living with HIV, and specifically what kind of impact medicinal cannabis use (e.g. for pain, appetite, nausea) and recreational cannabis use had on alcohol use.

Download the PDF version of the Research Snapshot here. 

_{This Research Snapshot is based on the article, “A longitudinal investigation of the association between cannabis use and alcohol use among people living with HIV,” which was published in the Drug and alcohol dependence Journal in 2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2018.08.026 This research was funded by the AIDS Bureau, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care. The researchers wish to acknowledge the contributions of the Ontario HIV Treatment Network (OHTN) Cohort Study team. The opinions, results and conclusions are those of the authors only. No endorsement by OHTN is intended or should be inferred. To learn more, visit eenet.ca. This summary was written by Andra Ragusila.}