Meth danger may be understated

Pure Services owner Dave Begg, of Dunedin, cleans a meth-contaminated home in Christchurch on Thursday. Photo: Supplied
Pure Services owner Dave Begg, of Dunedin, cleans a meth-contaminated home in Christchurch on Thursday. Photo: Supplied

 

Pure Services owner David Begg, who runs a specialist cleaning business, said he was called "every week" to clean a methamphetamine-contaminated house somewhere in the South Island.

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That included three houses in Dunedin in the past six months, suspected labs in Christchurch and contaminated homes in Timaru, Waimate and Invercargill.

Most calls related to houses contaminated by people smoking methamphetamine, rather than manufacturing it, he said.

Mr Begg said the low numbers in Dunedin suggested people were unaware it could be a problem.

"Dunedin is a little behind the eight ball on the testing side of it," he said.

Dave Begg. Photo: Supplied
Dave Begg. Photo: Supplied

Housing New Zealand figures released earlier this month showed the corporation had spent $5.8million cleaning methamphetamine-contaminated houses nationwide in the first half of 2015-16.

Most of those had been used for consumption of the drug, including eight in Otago-Southland, which cost $95,423 to clean in the first half of 2015-16, the figures showed.

National Poisons Centre toxicologist Dr Leo Schep, of Dunedin, has questioned the approach, saying houses where methamphetamine has been smoked but not produced, posed "minimal risk of toxicity".

But Mr Begg said contamination levels of more than 0.5mg of methamphetamine per 100sqcm could be extremely bad for a person's health.

Most houses he dealt with recorded levels of between 0.5mg and 35mg per 100sqcm, but the highest reading, found in Christchurch, was 130mg per sqcm.

People could expect hayfever-like symptoms if a home was affected, including headaches, a runny nose and itchy eyes.

"I'm no doctor but I wouldn't want to be living in there," he said.

Most of the homes he dealt with had also been "trashed". Light bulbs had been used as smoking implements, smoke alarms deactivated, and, in some cases, there were signs manufacturing had occurred.

That included bottles of household chemicals lying around, as well as plastic soft drink bottles used for a "shake 'n' bake" manufacturing technique, and a burn pit outside, he said.

Detective Senior Sergeant Malcolm Inglis, of the Southern district organised crime unit, said police "very infrequently" found methamphetamine labs in Dunedin or the Southern district, as manufacturing was concentrated in the North Island.

Police found no labs in Dunedin city last year, he said.

"This is not to say that there couldn't be a lab operating in the South."

rhys.chamberlain@odt.co.nz

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