Devices that track heroin hidden in tires, brain cameras that show your mind on drugs and a sophisticated array of telephone intercepts - all sorts of new technologies are being deployed in the war on drugs.
In the United States the US Customs Service may have a new scanning machine that uses neutrons to help agents identity cocaine and other drugs inside trucks and cargo holds.
The scanning device, a new, improved version of the large X-ray machines customs agents use now, will be among new technologies presented at a government-sponsored conference on anti-drug tools in San Diego this week.
Mr Al Brandenstein, chief scientist of the White House Drug Policy Office, said he expected the three-day conference to be "very, very successful." The neutron scanner should be ready for use within one year, he said.
The plethora of new technologies developed by or for the government to help fight drug addition and trafficking should defuse "the myth that nothing works in the so-called war against drugs," Mr Brandenstein said.
More than 400 scientists, law enforcement representatives and companies designing and developing such technology are due to attend the conference, said Drug Office spokesman Mr Bob Weiner.
On display will be brain scanners that show the impact of using drugs, chemicals that make methamphetamine inert, ground and air telephone intercepts, and miniature cameras, as well as so-called mini-busters used by customs agents and police officers to find drugs being smuggled inside tires and other closed spaces.