FAR NORTH LOOKS AT FLAGGING P HOUSES

Northland home-buyers may soon be able to check whether properties
have been tainted with dangerous chemicals used to make illegal drugs.

The Far North District Council (FNDC) is setting up a taskforce to
look into the growing drug-manufacturing scourge.

Council officers will meet in three weeks with police and Northland
Health to discuss common issues related to premises used to
manufacture methamphetamine, also known as meth and P, and cannabis
oil.

FNDC environmental services manager Pam Greenfield said measures to be
considered were transfer of information on to council records to be
used in land information memorandum (Lim) reports, and flagging of
properties as a caution to council field staff.

The move would also allow home-buyers checking Lim reports to see if
properties have been used as drug labs.

The issue was highlighted nationally by a couple who rented a west
Auckland house which has been used as a meth lab, and suffered ensuing
health problems.

Flagging properties where drug labs have been found on Lim reports
will be good for home buyers, a leading Northland Real estate agent
says.

Northland president of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand Sue
Glenn said anything that helped a buyer know about the home they were
interested in was good.

"From a buyers' point of view, it would be wonderful. It would be like
finding out say that there was asbestos in the ceiling. It will note
that dangerous chemicals have been used there once," Ms Glen said.

However, the plan could open a "can of worms" when it came to other
matters such as insurance, she said.

For instance, whether an insurance company would decline to provide
cover for such a home, or refuse to pay out if there was an
unexplained explosion or fire at the house.

This would put buildings used for methamphetamine and cannabis oil
manufacture effectively on to a hazards register - a move that has
been welcomed by Northland's drug squad boss Detective Grant Smith.

Mr Smith said the chemicals used in manufacturing methamphetamine in
particular were extremely volatile.

With the P manufacturing process relatively new, not enough was known
about the long-term effects of the chemicals in homes.

Nine methamphetamine labs were busted in Northland in 2001, compared
with 22 in 2002 and 24 in 2003.

Mr Smith said there were "many, many more" out there that the police
had not yet discovered. Police were developing a national policy to
inform district health boards (DHBs) of properties where
methamphetamine had been manufactured so that they could inform
district councils.

A gram of high purity methamphetamine generally sells for between $500
and $700 and police believe the industry generates millions of dollars
from drugs manufactured in Northland.