One alarming social phenomenon that has been getting a lot of justifiable media coverage in Perth lately is the rise in drug use in general and the "ice" epidemic in particular. Not only are more and more people using this hugely powerful and damaging drug, but many are making it in makeshift labs in the suburbs of Perth. These seem to explode at almost regular intervals.

Related to this are the numerous robberies of various shops that occur from time to time. I'm not sure exactly how many are drug related, but the proportion must be very high.

Usually it's just drug abusers brazenly holding up these stores for cash. That was probably what happened in this case at a minimart just near where I live.

Now there's been another, more violent robbery attempt just down the road. Late one night earlier this week some thieves ram-raided a little deli on Royal St, then left the stolen car they used to do this burning in Mirrabooka.

I went by there yesterday and saw that the owner was already getting the place repaired.



Obviously it's just a little shop. If it wasn't insured against this kind of thing then the cost of repair will be a big financial drain. Then there's the lost cash flow because of the place being closed while it gets repaired. As you can see it's not just the glass that was smashed. So it will probably be closed for days yet. Then there's the emotional stress caused by such an event.



Those thugs have caused an enormous amount of damage to the premises. Then there's the car they stole and burned ...

It's depressing stuff. And events like this seem to be happening almost every week in this city.

UPDATE: Weeks on, the deli wall has still not been rebuilt, however the shop remains open. You have to feel for the poor guy who runs it, but also admire his determination to keep trading as before.