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| Dr. Brandenstein at brain research center in Boston. |
These are exciting, challenging times for those of us who
are applying science to the struggle against drug abuse
and drug crime. In both medicine and law enforcement,
CTAC is privileged to be playing a central role in the
development and deployment of state of the art advanced
technology. We are sponsoring some of the finest minds in
the nation and their work gives us new hope as we seek
more knowledge, better answers, and new medications to
treat and prevent abuse while we make cops more effective
and safer in their vital work.
Today, state and local police and prosecutors who have
received help from CTAC's Technology Transfer Program
are damaging drug dealers' operations across America.
This CTAC program provides systems and devices that
digitize wiretaps, covertly track suspects, securely share
investigative information among regional law enforcement
agencies, stabilize shaky surveillance video, detect hidden
cash and drugs, locate money launderers, and see quite
effectively through darkness. They are operational right
now in over 1300 law enforcement agencies in all 50
states, as we fulfill an important Congressional mandate to
bring federally developed technology to bear against drug
crime at the local level.
In the pages of this magazine, you will get first person
reports from police managers in Texas, New York, and
Oklahoma, whose departments are making regular, highly
successful use of these systems. Meanwhile, CTAC-sponsored,
nonintrusive inspection systems are being used by
the U.S. Customs Service to probe railroad cars as well as
trucks and cargo containers for hidden narcotics. CTAC is
also supporting research leading what we believe will be
next-generation systems. They are designed not only to
detect the presence of contraband but also to tell law
enforcement exactly what kind of contraband is being hidden
inside suspect containers without having to open them.
At the same time, CTAC-funded medical research�our
biggest R&D; investment�is underway to learn more
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| Addict prepares to undergo brain scan. |
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about the brain and create new medications to fight drug
abuse. Among these endeavors are the bold, anticocaine
projects at Columbia and Emory Universities, where Don
Landry and Mike Kuhar have made major strides towards
the development of medications to block cocaine overdose
and prevent and treat addiction. Then there are the
inspiring brain imaging projects at major medical research
centers across the nation. What CTAC has done in this
arena is to provide the world's most advanced brain imaging
machines in exchange for a commitment from famed
research institutions to devote significant time on the new
brain scanners to drugs of abuse research. As part of the
exchange, the research centers are training the next generation
of medical researchers in this field which traditionally
has not attracted much interest from bright young
minds because of the stigma attached to drugs and the
low priority given to it by the pharmaceutical industry.
A team of medical scientists led by Dr. Nora Volkow at
Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York State has
used a Positron Emission Tomography machine, known as
a PET scanner, and provided by CTAC, to examine the
brains of former methamphetamine addicts. They had
been off methamphetamines for as long as 11 months.
What Dr. Volkow and her team discovered is chilling but
not unexpected. Reported in the American Journal of
Psychiatry, their study, funded by the National Institute
on Drug Abuse, says the brains of these people appear
permanently changed, leaving them with impaired memory
and reduced physical coordination.
One of the reasons CTAC exists is to push the technology
envelope on both demand reduction and supply reduction.
Right now, for example, we're supporting scientists
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln
Laboratory who have a new way of using lasers and ion
spectrometry for detecting the presence of illegal drugs in
sealed containers. The theory is exciting and we have
decided to sponsor the work required to determine if the
two technologies when combined will translate into a
practical tool for law enforcement. CTAC's mission
encourages us to look at bold new approaches and it puts
us in contact with some uniquely talented people, like the
auto mechanic who invented a rapid pursuit boat for busting
drug smugglers. His story is also in this edition of
COUNTERDRUG TECHNOLOGY.
During my more than 15 years at Defense and at ONDCP's
CTAC, I've often been asked by friends outside government
if the persistence of the drug crisis didn't make me
doubt the focus of our efforts. When I could reply by
describing some of our technology R&D; programs and
goals, they would often say, "Well, let's see if it ever works
in the real world."
Today, the federal government's leveraged investment in
counterdrug research and development is paying off
across the horizon of science: from deep inquiry into the
workings of the human brain to a canine breeding program
that is producing the first U.S. line of drug-detecting
dogs.
Meanwhile, the Thermal Imagers you see officers training
on in the photo on this page, and some of the other
Technology Transfer Program's systems and devices have
directly reduced risk for cops while increasing their effectiveness.
That is enormously satisfying for all of us,
including the technology developers, the Army program
managers who administer the Technology Transfer
Program for us, and for my core team at CTAC.
Of course, genuine R&D; always has some failures associated
with it, but there is every reason to expect even
more good news in the near future from this office as
many of our investments in brilliant, innovative, scientific
minds continue to pay off. Thanks for taking the time to
learn about our work. Feel free to contact me at
ONDCP/CTAC
Washington, DC 20503.
