title: Managing confidentiality in illicit drugs research: ethical and legal lessons from studies in remote Aboriginal communities.
abstract: Assuring participant confidentiality in illicit drugs research has raised legal questions and challenges both for researchers and ethics committees. There are similar challenges for clinicians. To study cannabis use in Aboriginal people in Arnhem Land (Northern Territory), a risk-management approach was successful. Aboriginal participants were informed in their own language that confidentiality could not be assured if they disclosed information about illegal behaviours. Researchers avoided questions of intrinsic interest to law enforcement. Relationships between researchers and study participants and the integrity of the study were preserved. These considerations have relevance for clinicians as well as researchers dealing with the influence of illicit behaviours on health.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Tropical Medicine and Rehabilitation Sciences, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia. alan.clough@jcu.edu.au
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Clough
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Conigrave
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002188:Cannabis / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003219:Confidentiality; D028744:Ethics Committees, Research; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006805:Human Experimentation / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D035842:Research Subjects; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012308:Risk Management; D012424:Rural Population; D014739:Victoria
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs