Drug Courts in all of S.C.

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is a model for other counties and

a sound strategy to stem overcrowding.

The growing success of Greenville's Drug Court is a potent argument in favor of expanding this form of restorative justice to each of the state's 46 counties.

In the six years since 13th Circuit Solicitor Bob Ariail founded the program in Greenville, Drug Court has posted a success rate of more than 40 percent. Success is defined as completing a rigorous program of drug counseling and random drug testing and exiting the criminal justice system.

The Greenville Drug Court has surpassed the national averages in the number of candidates it graduates and the number of graduates who do not return to the criminal justice system. And Ariail says he expects even better results as the screening process for Drug Court candidates improves.

If each county would follow the Greenville model, it's possible South Carolina could help stem some of the overcrowding in the state's Department of Corrections. Drug Courts are in only a handful of the state's judicial circuits, reaching just six counties.

South Carolina, like the rest of the nation, spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually on drug enforcement and incarceration linked to drug-related crimes. The biggest expense is by far on Corrections, which has 23,000 inmates, about 1,000 inmates more than capacity.

Corrections is running a deficit for the third consecutive year, and this state doesn't have the resources to house more convicts or build more prisons. Financial relief alone is reason enough to employ wider use of restorative justice programs like Drug Courts that give small-time drug offenders genuinely committed to change a chance at sobriety. Not all will make it. But many do, each saving the state the $12,000 a year it costs to house and feed an inmate.

The success stories are inspirational. Greenville News reporter Andy Paras recently detailed some of the victories, from a former crack addict who completed the program and now runs his own business to a mother awaiting graduation after putting behind her days of writing bad checks and stealing to support her drug habit. That mother credits Drug Court with giving her honest work and an honest chance at sobriety, two things she desperately needed.

Drug Court alone isn't the answer to prison overcrowding. Nor is it an appropriate place for all drug offenders. Drug Court is for the strong and determined who simply need a setting conducive to healing, and incentive and support to conquer their dependencies.

The powerful grip of addiction is not easily broken. Drug Courts rightly recognize that some drug offenders can beat the odds if given a chance. And they exist in each of this state's 16 judicial circuits, all of which should invest in Drug Court.