BILL'S WAR ON DRUGS ALL WORDS: ANALYST

Mayor Bill Smith's latest "call to action" following another city tragedy
is more about winning headlines than the war on drugs, says an expert on
civic politics.

"There really is no substance to what he has said," said University of
Alberta political scientist Jim Lightbody.

"There's no action plan. There's no dollars. There's no thought behind the
press conference."

Smith, who didn't return several calls yesterday asking him to respond to
Lightbody's comments, called on Edmontonians to help police wage war on the
city's drug problem on Thursday, a day after a teenager was shot and killed
in Mill Woods in what police say was a drug-related slaying. The mayor said
recreational drug users, soft court sentences and moves to relax
marijuana-possession laws are contributing to an apathy that makes it
impossible for police to prevent such deaths.

Smith said the responsibility for tackling drugs lies with the entire
community and called on parents to watch their kids carefully, and for
educators to kick out students who bring drugs into schools.

"I doubt very much if you would see anything like this in Calgary, or
Winnipeg," said Lightbody. "You might see it in Toronto under Mayor (Mel)
Lastman, but he's just about gone."

In August, Smith set up a safe-driving "think-tank" after three young
people died in a north-end crash in which police said speed was a factor.
Police chief Bob Wasylyshen criticized the idea, saying it was
"unnecessary" because a task force already existed.

"Smith finds himself in a circumstance in which something unfortunate has
happened ... and therefore he has to say something," said Lightbody.

"He's going to ask young people not to drive fast, so there will not be so
many traffic deaths, OK. He's going to ask them not to drink or drive. He
gets front-page publicity and that is, as a rule, the end of it."

Political scientist Dr. Roger Gibbins, who heads the Canada West Foundation
- - a public policy group - said Smith's response to the tragedies could
reflect a widespread change in the responsibilities facing Canada's
big-city mayors.

"Mayors are increasingly active across a pretty wide range of issues," he said.

"Cities are becoming increasingly important to how we define our lives and
our quality of life - mayors have accepted that."