......When I was arrested I was dressed in black
They put me on a train and they took me back
Had no friend for to go my bail
They slapped my dried up carcass in that country jail

Early next morning bout a half past nine
I spied the sheriff coming down the line
Talked and he coughed as he cleared his throat
He said come on you dirty heck into that district court
Into the courtroom my trial began
where I was handled by twelve honest men
Just before the jury started out
I saw the little judge commence to look about

In about five minutes in walked the man
holding the verdict in his right hand
The verdict read in the first degree
I hollered Lordy Lordy have a mercy on me

The judge he smiled as he picked up his pen
99 years in the Folsom pen
99 years underneath that ground and
I can't forget the day I shot that bad b*itch down

Come on you've gotta listen unto me
lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be

What if cocaine and pot didn't carry criminal penalties and there was no more money incentive for the cartels and crooked cops? No need for snitches, no need for lawyers who represent snitches to be endangered. Defense lawyers would find a new kind of client to represent, as they are now in Juarez and the killing and violence would go away. What if the money spent fighting the drug war were instead diverted to effective drug treatement and prevention programs and mental health counseling?

Who loses besides the private prisons and politicians who are still so last year in campaigning on a tough on crime platform?

Is it too much to hope that our law enforcement officers, whose duty is to serve and protect, might turn to serving and protecting citizens who need them most -- the mentally ill, the drug addicted and those without the ability to see a better life in their future due to their lack of marketable skills?

My client at the jail yesterday was telling me about a new transfer inmate that arrived from a federal prison. He talked about the programs there, he was now a licensed electrician, he was ecstatic he had a trade. That's rehabiliation in action, one of the three primary purposes of sentencing. (The other two are deterrence and punishment.)

Mexico and the United States need to get off its drug war. There are such better ways to serve and protect than targeting drug dealers and mules to go after the source. That brings violence and corruption. Instead, decriminalize the drugs and spend the money on things that help people, prevention programs that aren't a joke (like Nancy Ragan's "Just Say No",) treatment programs that work because they acknowledge that every addict is bound to relapse. The correct response isn't to smack him down and kick him out of the program, but to let therapists work through it with the patient.

Another benefit: Highway patrol officers could stop playing "Driving While Black" or, in a case I got last week, "Driving While Asian." I'd even settle for them going after "Driving While Drunk" if they hadn't lowered the threshold to .08 from .10. There's got to be a dozen programs these traffic cops could participate in that would serve and protect those who need help in their community.

Given our troubling economy, why should the companies that run private prisons be doing just peachy while almost every other business is tearing its hair out?

And Yes, this is an open thread, all topics welcome.