The Use of Meth Regionally.

The use of methamphetamine is a New Zealand problem. It’s not specific to any location as it may seem in most of the media’s reporting. Though there are definitely areas with more activity than others, it doesn’t take away from the fact that our small country has a high percentage of positive test results. This issue has led to it becoming such a prominent topic of discussion in New Zealand. At Chemcare, we find the amount of positive test results alarming. The meth cleaning service we provide is working towards remediating properties that have been identified as contaminated. We don’t go out of our way to find these houses, we aim to help the people in need of making their home healthy again.

In Auckland alone, 42% of houses that were tested came back with a positive reading. Waitakere had the most tests carried out at 798, and 45% of those were a positive result, while the highest percentage of positive tests came from Waiheke Island at 52% of the 23 houses that were tested for meth contamination. The lowest percentage came from the North Shore at 32% out of the 304 houses that were tested. In total, 3552 houses in Auckland were tested for meth contamination, and 42% of them came back as positive. That’s a mass of 1492 houses that were used for recreational use or for the production of methamphetamine. To remediate these issues, Chemcare is based in Auckland to provide meth cleaning in Henderson, Papakura, Avondale, Remuera or any other suburb in need.

5293 houses around New Zealand were also tested. While the North Island was split into seven regional sections, the entire South Island was combined to provide New Zealand’s lowest percentage at 30% positive for contamination. The North Island was sectioned off with Northland, Auckland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Hawke’s Bay, and the Lower North Island. The Hawke’s Bay sat at the lowest with 37% of houses that were tested being positive for contamination.  The Lower North Island including Wellington and Palmerston North sat 2% higher at 39%. Across the board, it was fairly common for about 41% of tested homes to show meth contamination. The Waikato, Bay of Plenty, and Northland regions all sat at that 41%. And the highest at 49% which was the only the region to beat Auckland was the Coromandel Peninsula. This near 50/50 chance of a house that has been tested coming up as positive for a large area is alarming. It’s hard to know if it’s due to the amount of holiday homes in the area that tourists might smoke methamphetamine in, or if there is a group of manufacturers and locals getting caught up in this dangerous epidemic.

The severity of this issue is dependent on the response to the contamination. While the government works towards legislation like the standard that came out in 2017, there needs to be someone who is cleaning up the mess left behind by those that use and abuse meth. At Chemcare, we are ready to travel to the surrounding regions from our home bases. We can provide meth cleaning in Whangarei, Coromandel, Hamilton from our home base in Auckland. We can also provide meth cleaning in Wellington, Palmerston North, and Wanganui from our base in Wellington.