Police are shining 'magic torches' into clubbers' faces to check for tiny traces of cocaine – and now employers and parents are being encouraged to follow suit.
Forces across the country are buying the £40 torches which can make any microscopic particles of cocaine or amphetamine that are invisible to the naked eye appear bright green.
Officers say the UV lights work as well as ones costing ten times as much and make it easy to spot the tiniest traces of cocaine on nasal hair.
But drug campaigners have suggested the UV lights could be unlawful. Claudia Rubin, head of policy at drugs charity Release, said: 'Searching someone's nostrils could amount to a cavity search and is a serious breach of individual privacy.'
The torches are produced by Wrexham-based JNE Marketing, intending them to be used to show markings on stolen property.
It only realised they could be used to spot drugs when police officers starting asking about them. They will detect cocaine that is at least 87 per cent pure and 78 per cent pure amphetamine of, including some, but not all, Ecstasy pills.
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