>best numbers show about 15% of prisoners are in with drug charges.
That's incorrect. The source says ~16% had, as their most serious offence, a drug charge.
So in reality more than 16% are serving time for drug crimes. It seems a bit disingenuous that the statistic is posed like that, especially when considering the cyclical nature of incarceration,"3 strikes" laws, and the cascading violence caused by drug laws.
Why does that matter here?
The very laws which a large % of them broke (drug laws) are not based on objective statements.