Water testing has shown that Adelaide and regional South Australia has the largest rate of ice usage in the country. This worrying fact does affect you, as the manufacture of drugs in domestic housing is very common. The reality is that rental accommodation makes shifting from house to house to assist in hiding drug labs from police very easy.
When looking at purchasing your next family home this is of concern as the residue from the manufacture of substances such as ice, stay with the house. It is absorbed into the painted house walls and ceilings as well as the grouted floor areas of the home. Carpets, curtains and other soft furnishings absorb the dangerous chemicals as does the timber framework in the roof areas, where the vents are dumping the poisonous chemical vapors. It also is commonly vented into the ceiling space through exhaust fans or holes, as the chemical smell is very strong.
When looking at a house to purchase, several give away signs may be present such as the following.
Vents cut into the ceiling space, through walls or windows.
Hooks or hanging rods hanging from the ceiling.
Unusual chemical smells or other items being used to mask the smell from you at the inspection. Often smelling like cat urine
Hazing on windows.
Burnt areas in the rear yard used to burn up chemical packaging that could not be placed in the bin.
Chemical waste staining around sink areas of the house, such as the bath, kitchen sink or laundry sink areas.
Chemical staining to bench tops, tiled areas and stove cook top areas.
Generally the houses are rental and often not well maintained as no trade repairs would have occurred, as it is primarily a production area for drugs not a family living environment. 
If you see any of the signs as mentioned above combined with recently painted walls and steam cleaned carpets, alarm bells should be ringing in your head. If you seriously are still interested in the property, I suggest you have the contract written allowing for testing and the associated waiting time for the results written into your contract. If this scares off the seller or real estate agent, you should be concerned.
I would suggest talking to the owners of the neighboring houses, I often do when doing the inspection. Why would you want to be told after you bought the house about these issues?
To test for traces of drug related chemicals is a process that is time consuming and also a guessing game as only small swab areas are done due to the costs involved.
Companies such as Asbestos SA / Hazmat Australia can provide this service for you, Andrew Butler can be contacted on 0476943768.

Leaking and dampness in walls, ceilings and floors can be the result of many things.
I recently came across a dwelling with many dampness related issues, from multiple sources.
As a structure with multiple levels, leak points came from all over the building.
Rendered wall sheet cracking had allowed for wall moisture in all 3 floor levels to the extent that the removal of the external wall board sheeting was recommended to rectify this issue.
Cracked mortar to the tiled roof top area and failed sealant joints had allowed for moisture ingress to the ceiling area below. Rectification work would require the ceiling to be removed, as well as the tiling grout joints requiring removal and re grouting. The flooring on the third level had leaked and allowed moisture to soak into the flooring substrate and cause swelling and subsequent tile cracking. To rectify this area, the tiling would need to be removed and the flooring substrate replaced.
An out of view box gutter had blocked due to a curtain blowing into it and allowing the box guttering to overflow. The box gutter overflow however was positioned over the cracked wall sheeting. This allowed for leaking into the wall  areas of the rooms below.
Moisture had leaked right down to the ground floor ceilings and floor areas.
Lack of painting maintenance had also allowed for the window trim timbers to have excessive wood rot, as the timbers were located on the second and third storey.
On this same house the tiled laundry floor area had excessive cracking with moisture visibly leaking out of the cracks.
My job as an inspector is not to judge the property and suggest if the client should or should not purchase it, but to advise on the faults.
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