There is so much being done to help those addicted to the drug Ice. Millions being spent on rehabilitation etc. Nothing against that, however, it’s an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.
There’s millions being spent on keeping our first responders safe from extra strong addicts that, they are obligated to help. Certainly nothing against that, however, it’s another ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.
Also in NSW we have special teams of police that specifically search for meth labs. No problem with that. Historically it’s been said that only 1 in 10 meth labs are found. If the 26 individuals who were arrested for manufacturing drugs in the Fairfield (Sydney) LGA between 2014 and 2018 were also only 10% of the cooks, then what damage have the other 234 been doing to the properties they have been moving between e.g. meth contamination.
The NSW Bureau of crime says the number of arrests for possession and use of methamphetamine rose 220% between 2009 (1,698) and 2018 (7,129) and those figures would be a small percentage (maybe 10%) of those that are actually using and in possession of the drug ice/meth.
Perhaps statistics from the latest National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program are closer to what is actually happening. The estimated weight of methamphetamine being consumed in Australia has jumped 17.2% from 8.405 tonne in 2016-17 to 9.847 tonne in 2017-18. It is estimated that some $7.3 billion was spent on methylamphetamine in 2017-18.
An estimated 980mg/1000 people per day (32 doses) is consumed in Sydney and an estimated 1,367mg/1000 people per day (45 doses) in regional NSW.
In 2015 the Commonwealth Government developed a “National Ice Action Strategy” to tackle the growing use of the drug Ice. It certainly hasn’t reduced the amount of ice being consumed in Australia.
There is however a sector of the community that has been to some extent neglected by the Government and the drug reports that are released, they are the unsuspecting tenants that are moving into these highly contaminated ex meth labs that have gone undetected by the police. Admittedly there has been increased media coverage concerning this issue in recent times (thanks to one meth testing company) with tenants complaining of ailments that are inevitably traced back to a meth contaminated property. Local Governments are not doing anything to protect these tenants. Western Australia is the only exception although it won’t happen till 2020 maybe 2021.
Landlords don’t believe it will happen to them, and if it does they are likely to try and decontaminate the property themselves, repaint and re-rent. And that’s a result of the cost of the decontamination, the loss of rent and the refurbishing of the property. This type of decontamination is not advisable and is only adding to the problem that is evolving in Australia.
The industries involved with both Landlords and Tenants are the Real Estate and Property Management industries. I am amazed at how little this sector actually knows about Ice/Meth and the contamination it causes. I regularly hear “No, No we don’t have clients like that”, “None of our homes are contaminated” (how do you know?) and one of the better ones was “Oh no our properties are interstate”!!! another one was “I’m a smoker, I can tell if their smoking ice”.
There seems to be a lack of knowledge in those two industries and when dealing with something that’s on a par, health wise, with Aspestos, Dampness and Mould also Health and Safety aspects of not only the property but what about agents or Property Managers entering a potentially dangerous environment, who’s responsibility is that?
The only patented world first Meth Alert device is available in Australia. The Ice Breaker Mk3 will send the Landlord, property Manager or a Monitoring Centre a text message the moment its sensor detects Meth, thereby mitigating any Health and Safety issues regarding this issue.
With Ice continuing to be a major concern it worries me that there is no involvement from Government, both local and federal and that innocent people are getting less help than those who consciously made the decision to try the drug Ice, just once.
