S.C. Code Ann. § 44-54-20: Purpose.

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a civil remedy for damages to persons in a community injured by an individual's use of illegal Controlled I substances. It establishes a cause of action against drug dealers for damages for monetary, noneconomic, and physical losses incurred as a result of an individual's use of an illegal controlled substance. This chapter will shift the cost of the damage caused by the marketing of illegal drugs to those who illegally profit from that market, as well as deter others from entering the illegal drug market by subjecting them to substantial monetary loss. This chapter will also provide an incentive for individual users to identify illegal drug marketers and recover from them the costs of their own drug treatment.