Meth Labs: The manufacturing of the drug Ice.
Ice use: Smoking and injecting the drug Ice.
Both the manufacture and the use of the drug Ice will contaminate a home.
Government Recommendations for meth contamination are 0.5µg/100²cm
A meth lab can manufacture (cook) multiple times a month for many months before moving to another property to avoid detection. Contamination levels will be well in excess of the Government recommendations and can cost many tens of thousands of dollars to remediate.
Users can smoke/inject the drug Ice many times a month which will contaminate a home but not to the levels of a meth lab. However the cost of remediation can still run into many thousands of dollars.
In both the above cases many homes can be contaminated before those responsible are found.
In the case of a meth lab it has been found by new research released by the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology on the 21st August 2020, that “Residential homes that have once been used as methamphetamine labs can still hold contaminated air years after changing hands. Simply breathing inside these houses can therefore expose someone to traces of meth. Even after moving house, these potentially toxic chemicals can stick to furniture, clothes, and soft toys, leaching back into the air”.
Another paper released recently (21st July 2020) titled “Environmental Methamphetamine Exposures and Health Effects in 25 Case Studies”, outlines how the health of inhabitants of contaminated homes was compromised.
There is a state here in Australia that has in its Housing Legislation a piece that says “Residential housing must be free from materials or substances that pose a material or serious risk of harm to the health of occupants”. Those materials or substances mentioned include, “chemical residue and vapours”.
Now how is that possibly being implemented by Landlords, Property Managers even Government housing in that state. It doesn’t say at “point of inspection” but it says “must be free”, meaning at all times.
There have been 221 meth labs (Amphetamine Type Substances, Excluding MDMA) having been found by the authorities over the last 5 years (2011-12 to 2017-18) in this state. And according to the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program Report 10 2020, having said that this states Capital City’s “mean consumption estimate was the highest of the capital cities”. And that “the regional use in the state was generally at the national average”. And the fact that the Australian authorities have said they believe they are only finding 1 in 10 meth labs, there seems to be the extreme possibility that there could be thousands of residential properties that are NOT free from chemical residue and vapours in this state.
As mentioned by the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology on the 21st August 2020, “Residential homes that have once been used as methamphetamine labs can still hold contaminated air years after changing hands”.
What vapours are generally compromising the clean air in these homes? Meth vapours would be one of the more common type of vapour and as ice/meth is made from hazardous chemicals then it stands to reason that the vapours in many residential properties are chemical vapours.
Search and have a read of this paper titled “Environmental Methamphetamine Exposures and Health Effects in 25 Case Studies” (21st July 2020), and you will realise how real the health effects are to residents of contaminated properties.
The state’s Housing Legislation mentioned above states that “Residential properties must be free from materials or substances that pose a material or serious risk of harm to the health of occupants.
In this regulation — “material or serious risk of harm means a risk of harm that is not trivial or negligible”.
That means every level of risk above the very lowest on a risk analysis chart.
Not all insurance companies will payout for the full remediation costs. Some will only pay around $20,000 which is way short of the costs involved in remediating a highly contaminated home.
To be notified the moment Ice is being manufactured or used will save months of contamination build up thereby saving many thousands of dollars in remediation costs.
What would happen in the state mentioned above where “residential properties must be free from chemical residues and vapours” if an insurance company said sorry we are not paying out for meth contamination remediation because there was no effort being made to monitor chemical vapours in a property?
What are the legal ramifications in the state mentioned if a tenant decided to sue a landlord because the home they were living in was found to have meth vapours (chemical vapours) within it.
221 meth labs have been found in that state. But if only 1 in 10 have been found there are possibly 1,989 homes still out there that are full of chemical vapours. Not to mention the many many homes that have had the drug Ice smoked in them.
Make no mistake meth contamination in our communities is very real.
But there is a solution to minimise this contamination.
The Ice Breaker™ is a small electronic device that will detect not only the manufacture and use of the drug Ice in real time, but it will detect the PRIOR use and manufacture of Ice in a residential property. Thereby monitoring the quality of air in a property to ensure it’s free of chemical vapours associated with the drug Ice.
You as a landlord will be alerted via a simple text message the moment The Ice Breaker™ detects either the use or manufacture of the drug, thereby saving many thousands of dollars in remediation cost because you are being notified early rather than many months down the track or if at all.
Meth Testing is no longer needed between tenancies.
It will act as a deterrent at the tenant interview stage if included in the tenancy agreement. You will attract a better quality tenant.
The Ice Breaker™ is not a surveillance device.
Don’t leave your investment property you have worked and saved hard for open to the possibility of being severely damaged by a meth lab or even tenants smoking the drug Ice.
All 3 images below are from contaminated properties. Quit a contrast.
For more information regarding The Ice Breaker™ please contact us:
Email: enquiry@ipsmaustralia.com.au
Copyright IPSM, 25/9/2020
