X-Sender: tkruse at albatros.cnb.net (Unverified) X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.4 (32) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 21:07:47 -0400 To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com From: Thomas Kruse <tkruse at albatros.cnb.net> Subject: spooky shit, a paradox & numbers
The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has set up what it calls the Counterdrug Technology Assessment Center (CTAC). From there they fund all manner exploration into tehno-fixes of the "drug problem." Here's a selection:
Spooky Shit ------------- Where Is He? Is He Using?
This experimental device being developed by CTAC-sponsored scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., will combine positioning technology with chemical sampling of the wearer's sweat to more effectively monitor drug offenders under court supervision. If this system proves effective, it will give law enforcement an important new tool for guaranteeing the compliance of persons on parole and probation.
[...]
In Pima County, Arizona, Captain Larry Seligman, a former SWAT team leader, now runs the Pima County Sheriff's Department's advanced technology unit. With CTAC's help, Captain Seligman has created Borderline, a system that makes court ordered wiretaps much more effective tools for fighting drug criminals. In a state-of-the-art facility funded by HIDTA, the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program, wiretaps from all over the huge county are digitally recorded and transcribed, making them easily accessible for rapid search and retrieval. This CTAC system increases the likelihood that vital information will not be lost amidst the drone of voices - as is so often the case - and that such information will stimulate and support aggressive prosecution. The photo to the right shows Captain Seligman in the wiretap room. Below, Seligman and his boss, Pima County Arizona Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, meet with Rep. Jim Kolbe in the wiretap room.
A Paradox ------------- Here's a note on how to solve the drug problem with ... you guessed it ... drugs:
Medical Research: "We're going to end up talking about compulsive drug taking behavior as a function of neuro-chemically rewiring a person."
[...]
At Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City, an international research team led by Don Landry, M.D., is making rapid progress towards the development of artificial anti-cocaine catalytic antibodies which would serve as an immunizer/vaccine. It's very promising and could be in human subject trials around the end of the century. Here's how Dr. Landry hopes it will work, one day:
A cocaine addict goes to her family physician for help. The doctor injects her with the chemical - an artificial enzyme that has no harmful side effects. The enzyme destroys cocaine molecules as they enter the blood, before the drug can even get to the brain. The enzyme could remain active and on duty in the bloodstream for as long as one year before another injection is needed. Once that patient receives the vaccine, she should be free from the physiological effects of cocaine, safe, to do the psychological work necessary to changing her life so that she can function effectively, drug-free.
Numbers ------------- This note appears too:
Last year, 3.5 million trucks came across the U.S - Mexican border. U.S. Customs inspected 911,000. Out of that 911,000 trucks, they found 56 with drugs. And out of that number, 16 with cocaine.
Now: how much did all that poking around cost you, dear taxpayer? See it yourself at: http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/policy/ctac/index.htm
Tom
Tom Kruse / Casilla 5812 / Cochabamba, Bolivia Tel/Fax: (591-4) 248242 (*** NOTE CHANGE IN TEL NO. ***) Email: tkruse at albatros.cnb.net