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NEUROSCIENCE OF PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCE USE AND DEPENDENCE

under the minimum legal drinking age. Surveys of drug use may also ask about
illicit drug use and the commission of other illegal acts, such as driving while
intoxicated, selling illicit drugs or engaging in theft, fraud or violence to
finance drug use. If such data were linked to an identified individual and
given to the police then the participant could face criminal charges. In the
USA researchers can obtain certificates of confidentiality that provide subjects
with an assurance that this will not happen. However, the legal status of these
certificates is unclear, given that the certificate is issued federally; it is unclear
if it would have legal status in state courts. Furthermore, the threat of access
to these documents from civil law suits is also unclear. The legal situation in
most other countries is similarly unclear.
Confidentiality is much less of a problem when data are collected in a single
cross-sectional interview. The information provided usually does not
contain participants name or other identifiers because this information need
not be collected. Confidentiality becomes more of an issue if interviews are
recorded (e.g. on tape) because this could be used in a court of law.
Confidentiality becomes a potentially serious issue in longitudinal studies
in which data that permit identification of subjects (e.g. the participant’s name
and address, and the names and addresses of their family and friends) are
collected so that individuals may be recontacted for further interviews at a
later date. A standard precaution is to store names and identifiers so that
they are secure, and to keep them separate from the survey data.
Confidentiality will become an even more important issue when DNA samples
(or biological tissues from which DNA can be obtained) are collected because
DNA provides a unique way of identifying all individuals (except identical
twins). When linked with questionnaire or interview data, DNA permits
information on self-reported illegal acts to be reliably linked to an individual.
Special precautions will therefore be necessary to protect privacy in
epidemiological studies of illicit drug use that also collect biological samples.
This may require legislation similar to that which applies in the USA.

Emerging ethical issues in neuroscience research
Research on vulnerable persons

Research involving persons who have cognitive or physical impairments
requires special ethical consideration (Brody, 1998). A major ethical issue is
whether vulnerable persons are capable of providing informed consent,
specifically whether they are able understand the rationale behind a clinical
trial (Mora, 2000), understand exactly what is required of them and why (Stahl,
1996), and give their free and informed consent to participate in the study
(Anthony & Helzer, 1991).
A person may be vulnerable for one or more of the following three reasons:
personal limitations to their freedom (intrinsic), environmental factors that
limit their freedom (extrinsic), and limitations on their freedom by virtue of

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