In a recent commentary Miller et al. raise some important questions about the regulation of research in the alcohol and other drug sector [Miller, P., Moore, D., & Strang, J. (2006). The regulation of research by funding bodies: An emerging ethical issue for the alcohol and other drug sector? International Journal of Drug Policy, 77(1), 12-16]. While we are sympathetic to the authors' position and interest in generating public debate on regulation and censorship, we comment on two interrelated aspects of their argument which need further development. Firstly, they problematically counter pose dated conceptions of 'science' and 'ethics' with a restricted and negative concept of 'regulation'. We argue that the scientific field, ethics and ethics committees cannot be counter posed to regulation because they, along with funding bodies, are a part of the regulation of research. Secondly, their restricted conception of regulation is also problematic in so far as it diverts attention from a critical approach to understanding how the scientific field, ethics and ethics committees, along with funding bodies, play a role in the governance of drug use and drug users. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
