Are your children safe?

The use of Methamphetamine (ICE or Meth as it is commonly known) is viewed as a victimless crime. Whilst laws make the manufacture, sale and consumption of Meth a crime there is nothing that makes the contamination of a property by the use of Meth a crime. State government agencies and Police personal fail to treat as ‘victims’ those who innocently occupy a contaminated home through use of the drug by a previous occupant and more importantly they fail to realise that children in these homes are the most vulnerable to long term health effects from exposure whilst residing in the contaminated home and in some cases even after moving out.

Sadly most of the literature and research to this point in time has been regarding the effects on children of living in a home contaminated by current or previous manufacture of the drug. This is due to the fact that exposure to numerous toxic chemicals used in the production of Meth is a serious issue. This concentration of research on ‘Clan Labs’ is due to the increased concern that children in a Clan Lab environment are often exposed to additional factors such as abuse, physical safety risks and neglect. Children living in a contaminated former ‘smokehouse’ (a property where the drug was smoked rather than manufactured) might be living in a loving family environment and suffer no neglect or physical abuse, however this does not discount the fact that the harmful effects of the Meth residue they are exposed to may go unnoticed until it has become a serious problem. A young mother in Adelaide told me “My son was aggressive since we moved in, very snappy and I didn’t know why. We moved out but he is still an angry boy”. This was after just seven weeks in the house. Sadly what this young mother didn’t know, and what we hope to make the reader of this aware of, is that if you take the contents of the house with you when you vacate a house contaminated with Meth residue you take the contamination with you. This little boy's clothes, toys and their furniture etc are all contaminated and will still be exposing that family to Meth residue.

Children by virtue of their age-related behaviours of more frequent physical contact with floors, carpets and walls and by their hand to mouth contact are at greater risk of coming into contact with larger quantities of Meth residue. Also their smaller body mass, higher respiration rates and metabolic functioning leads to an increased risk of them inhaling, ingesting or absorbing toxic chemicals.

Far more research needs to be carried out so that government health, housing and police departments actually start acting responsibly and proactively to this problem. Sadly at the present time in Australia only WA is actively taking this issue as a problem that needs to be dealt with effectively. We hope that soon other states start to follow suit.