Drug detection

Techniques for customs, police and prison officers

The use of illicit drugs in the UK is continuing to grow and the availability of drugs is increasing.

Customs, police and prison officers need techniques to help them detect and identify drugs - to complement their current methods. The most effective ways of doing this will vary depending on whether the drugs being sought are tonnes of drugs in a shipping cargo container, a couple of grammes in a case of possession, or drugs being sent through the post in parcels.

Developing new detection technologies

We are looking at a number of technologies to provide quicker, easier and more accurate ways of finding drugs.

Present methods of finding drugs in parcels can be slow and time-consuming; the Drug Investigation by Low-Angle X-Ray Scatter project is looking at ways of doing this more quickly and effectively.

We are also working with industry on further developments to the technique of surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy to improve its capability.