This guidance has been drawn up as a result of a University of Bristol Brigstow Institute project in coordination with Transform Drug Policy Foundation (2023). Fear of legal consequences, stigma and prejudice associated with drugs and populations producing, selling and using illegal drugs present a serious obstacle for researchers wishing to work on drug issues due to perceived increased risk of harm to participants and/or the researcher. Research Ethics Committees (RECs) are not immune from replicating bias, prejudice and moralising judgements, whether consciously or unconsciously, which affects the scope, processes and potential impact of research on illegal drugs, people who use drugs, drug markets, and drug policy - particularly drug policy reform. Although experiences vary, researchers are frequently required to provide “additional safeguards” to ethics applications which can be timely, expensive, unduly burdensome and often prohibitive for researchers, RECs, and research participants. Research on the health and safety of marginalised populations affected by drugs in different ways is needed, and ultimately such challenges risk stifling knowledge production in this area, and in turn, can hinder positive policy developments that improve outcomes for these populations.

The recommendations presented below are intended to guide researchers and academics working on these issues across different disciplines when they are submitting university ethics applications and for RECs to have a standardised, cross-disciplinary approach to assess and advise research on psychoactive substances. Though carried out in Bristol, the findings will be applicable in other research organisations and are intended to facilitate future ethical research on drugs issues and destigmatise potential research participants.