USA Today: "Drug courts offer offenders alternatives"

There's an important story about drug courts in USA Today - the nation's largest daily newspaper:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-12-20-alternativecourts_N.htm

The courts, which are multiplying across the USA, began 18 years ago as an experiment to attack a growing crack cocaine epidemic in Miami. They rely on treatment, rigorous supervision and accountability as a way to help, for the most part, non-violent drug users rather than sending them to prison.