KEY STEP IN COMBATING CHROMING IN CAIRNS CBD

THIS month, there will be some movement on the problem of chroming in the Cairns CBD, and it comes in the form of Woolworths placing aerosol deodorant cans behind the locked glass of cabinets.

Hooray.

Chroming has been a problem for years and the ease with which youngsters steal cans from supermarket shelves is nothing short of horrifying.

Equally as bleak is the fact that chroming “culture” – for want of a better word – has developed to the point where youngsters have developed a taste for Rexona’s Sexy Bouquet, due to its “smooth taste”.

Let’s be clear – chroming causes brain and heart damage and can and does kill young Australians. Sometimes, all it takes is one huff. Given all that, it’s amazing how casually people wander the streets of the CBD with their cans and bottles under their shirts, sniffing away in broad daylight.

Woolworths’ move to trial these locked deodorant cabinets is good news – if perhaps a little overdue.

Once the cabinets are introduced at four Woolworths stores across Cairns later this month, there will hopefully be a noticeable decrease in the number of people openly chroming in the CBD. What happens next is key.

By hopefully increasing the difficulty of obtaining stolen deodorant from one source, how do we ensure people do not simply begin targeting other, smaller stores?

Woolworths’ trial of locked cabinets – particularly for the Abbott Street store, due to its proximity to known problem areas of Shields and Lake streets – is a key step in the right direction.

Let’s hope the community, politicians and police can come up with a long-term solution, which doesn’t simply shunt the problem on to smaller, less well-resourced shops.