An Investigation into the Prevalence of Methamphetamine Related Enquiries to Local Government Environmental Health Officers

Abstract

Methamphetamine contamination of residential properties remains a serious public health concern for members of the public. External stakeholders including Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) and testing and remediation technicians are engaged on investigating whether contamination has occurred from manufacturing or smoking processes. More specifically, local council EHOs are responsible for managing clandestine drug laboratories when notified by police and also for responding to public enquiries. However, the full scope of these contaminated properties is not seen by any single stakeholder, making it very challenging to quantify these situations. To evaluate the prevalence of methamphetamine related enquiries from the general public to EHOs, this study surveyed and interviewed officers from around Australia. It was found that public enquiries were infrequent with only 6% of respondents having received enquiries in the last month, which indicates that people are seeking information from other sources. Interestingly, there were case study scenarios that also mentioned issues with awareness and the flow of information. Concerns regarding difficult cases, police notifications, and site visits were also highlighted. The results of this study provide a benchmark of how methamphetamine related cases are managed and highlight the need for trustworthy information that is available to EHOs, governments, industry members, and the public in a unified location.