Ethical and practical issues involved in behavioral pharmacology research that administers drugs of abuse to human volunteers

Researchers carrying out non-therapeutic research that involves the adminis tration of drugs of abuse to human volunteers can be faced with many ethica l and practical questions. The history of this type of research is relative ly brief, with little in the way of published information relevant to carry ing out behavioral pharmacological research with human participants. The ai m of this article is to raise issues that occur in most studies of this typ e and to provide solutions that we have found acceptable and which have bee n approved by a variety of institutions and regulatory agencies. Clearly, t here are other approaches that would work equally as well, and we are not a ttempting to provide 'the' ans,ver to many of the issues raised. We believe that raising these issues and providing our perspectives is important for stimulating others to discuss them and for all of us to strive, where possi ble, to reach a consensus concerning ethical practices and to become aware of gaps and pitfalls. The topics discussed range from the nuts and bolts of acquiring and keeping track of drugs, to selecting research participants a nd designing ethical studies that protect our volunteers while still collec ting scientifically useful data. Behav Pharmacol 1998; 9:479-498 (C) 1998 L ippincott Williams & Wilkins.