New numbers from Oklahoma show that most of those sentenced to prison for the first time on felony charges were convicted of drug offenses. In addition, 80 percent of the state's inmates had a measurable amount of drugs in their system at the time of arrest.

Oklahoma's prison costs have soared 193 percent, or $253 million, in the past 16 years, according to figures from the Oklahoma Criminal Justice Resource Center. During this period the state's prison population has more than doubled.

As in many other states where the number of prisoners is skyrocketing while dollars are scarce, lawmakers are beginning to question the wisdom of locking up people for simple possession and other nonviolent drug offenses.

"We need to incarcerate the people we're afraid of, not that we're mad at," State Rep. Lucky Lamons (D-Tulsa) told the Associated Press. Lamons is a former police officer.

Oklahoma ranks fourth in the nation in overall incarcerations per 100,000 residents. Only Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas send more of their populations to prison.