Government Eyes Closed On New Zealand Meth Epidemic

29, May 2017: The upcoming and highly anticipated new regulations and standards for methamphetamine testing and contamination is expected to be less than adequate to address the current meth situation currently plaguing New Zealand. Neville Pettersson from meth testing Hawkes Bay comments "I'm not expecting much with the new standards. The problem is very bad and I'm not sure the government actually wants this to come out before the election".

Pettersson's comments come after the recent Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill which was labelled in the media as the government cracking down on meth, but Neville disagrees "This Amendment Bill does little to ‘tackle’ meth. It doesn’t even mention the words ‘meth’ or ‘contamination’ at all. The amendments in regards to meth are implied and non-specific". meth test

According to Pettersson, unless there are some strict rules around testing, preferably mandatory, people will continue to feel the ill-effects of meth contaminated houses. He continues, "There still remains no obligation on landlords to test for meth. This puts the onus, AKA expense, back on the tenant if they want to check meth levels, but the burden for renters is already too high in this country". p test

The Ministry of Health is currently working with Standards New Zealand to come up with these new rules and standards. Their release has recently been pushed back until possibly Spetember 2017, most likely after the general election. Pettersson comments on what he'd like to see included in the release, "I would really like to see the Government take charge on meth and make meth testing part of the Warrant of Fitness for housing scheme. Landlords should be required to test for meth between each tenancy. The results of tests should be reported to the MoH in order to give us some real data on the state of meth contamination, which we currently don’t have in New Zealand".

For Media Contact:
Person Name: Neville Pettersson
Company: Meth Testing Hawkes Bay
Phone: 021 08767132
Website: http://methtestinghawkesbay.co.nz/