WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- The Institute of Medicine in Washington has recommended the U.S. government loosen regulations to allow drug tests on prison inmates.
Drug trials using convicted criminals were halted nearly completely in the early 1970s after cases of abuse came to light. However, the private offshoot of the National Academy of Sciences recommended trials be resumed in cases where the pharmaceuticals could be beneficial to prisoners, The New York Times reported Sunday.
The report also recommended all studies take place under independent review to prevent abuses.
"The current regulations are entirely outdated and restrictive, and prisoners are being arbitrarily excluded from research that can help them," said Ernest Prentice, chairman of the Health and Human Services Department committee that commissioned the study.
He said the committee would begin revising the regulations Nov. 2.
Washington lawyer Alvin Bronstein, who co-founded the National Prison Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, said the program could be beneficial.
"With the help of external review boards that would include a prisoner advocate," Bronstein said, "I do believe that the potential benefits of biomedical research outweigh the potential risks."
