Palmer greasing the wheels of Qld government

After a series of disagreements with state premier Campbell Newman last year Clive Palmer quit the LNP and went his own way.  After a series of escalations since then, Clive formed his own party and contested the federal election, winning two senate spots and a possible third, and may yet have won a seat for himself.

Clive was one of the LNP’s major donors in the past, sparking claims to him owning the party.  Curiously though, despite having his own party in competition to them, he has turned up on their donors list: 

… The latest report from the Electoral Commission of Queensland on political party funding shows the LNP enjoyed some hefty contributions from the agricultural sector, oil and gas companies and property groups. 

Interestingly, almost hidden among the names is one Professor Clive Palmer, who made more than $40,000 in donations in June. 

Of course Mr Palmer reportedly quit the party in 2012 after a falling out with Premier Campbell Newman, and formed the Palmer United Party, which found much success at the federal poll. 

The Queensland Labor Party received $4.7 million in gifts and donations with a large percentage coming from unions while the state's Greens pocketed just $168,000 most of that from private benefactors. 

There was $160,000 for the Katter Party courtesy of seven pharmacy groups and $70,000 from the Sporting Shooters of Australia.

The LNP, especially the Nationals part, were notorious for a ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ approach to commercial approvals in the past so its possible that Clive doesn’t want too many obstacles put in the way of his future ventures.

The hefty contributions from the agricultural sector, oil and gas companies make interesting reading.  The agricultural sector has been battling against the unfettered access to their private property by the mining, oil, and gas sectors, which explains their interest.  Those sectors want better access to the land of the former.  Someone is going top get the rough end of the pineapple there.

It is not known why Bob Katter gets such large donations from big pharma.  It is possible though that Bob's preference swap with Labor gave them the idea that Bob and his party were on something, a lot of it and they decided to give some of the proceeds back.

UN calls for Obama to overturn marijuana legalisation

Amid the celebrations for the victories for marijuana legalisation in Washington State and Colorado there were those of us who had doubts that the federal government would allow them to stand.  The current Administration has after all, been more extreme in its determination to stamp out even medical marijuana than any previous one.  The idea of legalising recreational usage was likely to convince the Feds that a jackboot on the throat was needed.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has asked for a response twice so far but with no joy.  Now the UN has asked for federal action to prevent the measures being implemented: 

The head of the U.N. drug watchdog agency is urging U.S. federal officials to challenge ballot measures in Colorado and Washington that decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana for adults 21 and over. 

Raymond Yans says the approvals send "a wrong message to the rest of the nation and it sends a wrong message abroad." 

Yans heads the International Narcotics Control Board. He told The Associated Press on Tuesday he hopes Attorney General Eric Holder "will take all the necessary measures" to ensure that marijuana possession and use remains illegal throughout the U.S. 

Both states are holding off on plans to regulate and tax the drug while waiting to see whether the Justice Department will assert federal authority over drug law. …

The claim by the UN to overturn the democratic will of voters in two states is questionable at best.  As far as any right to moral authority is concerned, the UN has none whatsoever, being composed of tin pot dictatorships, regimes of dubious moral authority, assorted nasties, interspersed with a sprinkling of legitimate governments.

The UN busybodies are claiming legitimacy over a treaty on narcotics that is more than fifty years old but which was signed by the US.  It is an absolute nonsense to suggest that what was considered a ‘good idea at the time’ that long ago should be frozen in time till today.  Drug policy is a classic area for a fifty state solution, where each has its own legislation (or not) with the best results gradually being adopted by others in a way that improves results nationwide. 

Washington State marijuana reform in effect already

During last week’s election two states, Washington and Colorado, voted for ballot measures to legalise the use of marijuana.  This will require legislative changes in both states to bring current laws into line with the new requirements and until that happens, the old laws remain in effect.

Prosecutors in Washington State though, are moving fast to come into line with the new reality in that state, dropping numerous charges that are in the pipeline: 

Washington and Colorado became the first U.S. states to remove criminal sanctions for personal possession of an ounce (28.5 grams) or less of marijuana as voters approved ballot measures on Tuesday to legalize recreational use of the drug, setting up a possible showdown with the federal government. 

Washington state's legalization measure passed with more than 55 percent of voters supporting it and fewer than 45 percent opposed, and will take effect next month. 

But prosecutors in Washington's King and Pierce counties - which contain the cities of Seattle and Tacoma - moved swiftly to announce they were dropping 225 pending possession cases currently in the pipeline. 

"The people have spoken loudly in Initiative 502, and there seems to be no point in continuing to prosecute cases for conduct that's going to be legal in a couple of weeks," King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg told Reuters. 

Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said, "I don't believe any jury is going to convict on a simple marijuana case after this initiative has passed." 

All the cases slated for dismissal represent the relative few in which marijuana possession alone is charged. Conviction for possession of an ounce or less carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail, Lindquist said. …

It is refreshing to see an outbreak of common sense among prosecutors, which will save the state a great deal, of money, court time, and prison costs.

In a nation where some estimates indicate that 50% of the prison population is there for non-violent drug offences, Colorado and Washington State are showing real leadership.  The ‘War on Drugs’ has been going on for over 40 years since Nixon fired the first shots in 1971, much longer than prohibition, which only lasted for thirteen.  The effects of both are remarkably similar.

The Obama Administration has not as yet responded to these new laws, but is expected to react violently to them.  The Federal government has been extremely aggressive on the drug front, especially in states where medical marijuana laws are in effect to the point where Bush and Clinton now appear bastions of tolerance. 

The cost of the drug war Vs no benefit

Reason has posted a chart of drug addiction over the last forty years along with the cost of enforcement.  This was challenged when someone realized that the total of $1.5 trillion, did not match up with the yearly cost.  It turns out that the yearly costs are for federal enforcement, while the $1.5 T is the sum of the total costs of all enforcement.

Image: drugsnotthugs.com 

It also turns out that it is an underestimate:

But the massive federal drug control budget--for fiscal year 2013, it'll be $3.7 billion for interdiction, $9.4 billion for law enforcement, and $9.2 billion for early intervention--is actually a pretty small slice of the pie. States and municipalities have their own drug war expenses--investigating, trying, and locking up drug offenders--and those expenses actually dwarf what the federal government spends. 

According to The Economic Impact of Illicit Drug Use on American Society, last published by the Department of Justice in 2011, enforcing illegal drug laws imposes an annual cost on the American criminal justice system of $56 billion; while incarceration of drug offenders poses an annual cost of $48 billion. 

That's $104 billion spent annually by states and cities on two aspects of the drug war (and doesn't include treatment, public assistance, and a slew of other costs), compared to roughly $21 billion spent by the federal government. … 

… (though minus the "$1.5 trillion" in the middle of the image, the chart does accurately represent the growth of the federal drug control budget and the relatively flat rate of addiction to illicit substances). But even if the chart were designed to reflect "all costs associated with drug prohibition" over the last 40 years, with the right Y axis reflecting the growth of state and federal drug control spending, it would still be wrong, because $1.5 trillion doesn't nearly cover it.

Supporters of the ‘War on Drugs’ will probably claim that the expenditure has caused the addiction rate to remain stable rather than increase.  It is probably wise to remember that the 60s and 70s were the time of the drug revolution, where everyone claimed to be on something other than when talking to a cop.  It is therefore surprising that the start of the drug war had no downward tick.

Perhaps us old hippies did more talking than taking.

Full article here