Thousands of low-level drug offenders in Texas will now go to treatment programs instead of state jails, a fundamental change in prosecution that was sparked by inequities in sentencing in Harris County. The Houston Chronicle reported in December that local prosecutors sent 35,000 small-time drug offenders to state jails or prisons in the past five years, a wildly disproportionate number for the county's population. During hearings in Austin this spring, state lawmakers grilled a Harris County prosecutor over the imbalance. The bill, one of 1,300 that Gov. Rick Perry signed into law after the close of the legislative session earlier...