Meth debt collection drags on

Housing New Zealand was still paying debt collectors to chase tenants for meth-related properties damage nearly a month after a report found the health risks of third-hand methamphetamine exposure was overhyped in most cases.

Housing NZ has identified and contacted 53 tenants who were still making debt payments for meth-related damage since late May.

But Housing NZ material made public under the Official Information Act said the state-owned landlord ‘‘advised debt collecting agency [sic] to immediately cease collection on these repayment cases’’ between June 20 and July 2. The latter was more than a month after agency spokesman Glenn Conway said the agency had ‘‘stopped the practice’’.

In late May the prime minister’s then chief science adviser Sir Peter Gluckman released a report that found there was no evidence living in a dwelling where methamphetamine had only been smoked had any health risks.

According to Institute for Environmental Science and Research analysis, less than 1 per cent of their samples had contamination levels indicating the property was used to manufacture the drug.

Even in these cases there was not the presence of some of the more toxic elements found in meth production overseas such as lead and mercury.

A Housing NZ spokesman said yesterday that debt collection ‘‘has all stopped to the best of our knowledge’’.