Ethical issues in research on the treatment of adolescent substance abuse disorders

Treatment research on adolescent substance use disorders raises a number of important ethical and legal concerns which have not been widely acknowledg ed. This paper explores these concerns as they relate to fundamental ethica l principles in the conduct of human research. The issues discussed include tensions between conflicting regulations governing informed consent for re search and treatment of adolescents, the capacity of adolescents to give in formed consent, potentially coercive elements related to research on substa nce use treatment. problems associated with confidentiality and release of information, research vulnerability associated with substance use, and ethi cal implications of distinctions between effectiveness and efficacy researc h. Suggestions for ways investigators may address these concerns are provid ed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.