Home buyers can now have properties tested for ICE

Home buyers can now have properties tested for ice to see if the premises was once used as a methamphetamine lab.

A new testing service for drug residue in houses has been launched in Tasmania by Meth Screen and real estate firm Harcourts Tasmania. 

The initiative will reward clean homes with a ‘safe living certificate’ and be offered regularly to investors to detect ice, as reported by Real Estate. 

Meth vapour is odourless, colourless and can be absorbed by most surfaces

Data from Holyoake in Hobart identified ice as the number one problem drug with Tasmanians becoming addicted at an alarming rate. 

Real Estate Institute of Tasmania president Tony Collidge said testing for residue of the illicit substance was common. 

‘Damage to a property or loss of rent use to be the big things a property owner had to worry about,’ he said.

‘These days, it is not an out-there idea to have this sort of service available for Tasmanian property owners.’

Methamphetamine contamination expert Dr Jackie Wright said meth vapour is odourless, colourless and can be absorbed by most surfaces. 

A new testing service for drug residue in houses has been launched in Tasmania

Public health scientist Dr Jackie Wright (pictured) says common side-effects of exposure to drug resident include respiratory problems 

Many people are often unaware  they are living with the residue until their health worsens. 

‘Common side-effects include respiratory problems, headaches, eye and skin irritation, sleep disturbance and behavioural problems in children,’ she said.

Harcourts state property manager Kylie Smart believes it is only a matter of time before meth testing is ‘normal practice’. 

The initiative will reward clean homes with a ‘safe living certificate’ if it passes