When I worked as a prosecutor, my approach for non-violent defendants was rehabilitation, not incarceration. Incarceration does not rehabilitate a person who has a drug problem and once a person who is incarcerated for a drug-related/induced offense is released from prison, they don’t have the tools necessary to get meaningful employment or reintegrate into society.
It’s time for a change. The incarceration approach clearly isn’t working and is costing Oklahoma taxpayers a tremendous amount of money. Money that could be used to pay our teachers appropriate salaries, fund drug prevention programs, or fix our roads.