Border

The Mexico Drug War Update was on vacation last week, but now it's back. Weirdly enough, 420 people were killed in prohibition-related violence there in the past two weeks. Nothing to celebrate about that.

We're already $1.2 billion into helping Mexico try to wage prohibition on its powerful and violent drug trafficking cartels. Now, border congressmen want another $500 million in an emergency appropriation this year.

The drug czar was in the hot seat at a Wednesday congressional hearing, and activists and academics got a chance to weigh in on the flaws of US drug policy as well.

The body count in Mexico's prohibition related violence this week topped 19,000, as President Felipe Calderon's war on the so-called cartels continues to reap high levels of bloodshed.

The prohibition-related violence in Mexico took an ominous turn this week as supposed cartel armies attacked military bases in the north. And then there's the typical toll of dead cops, dead narcos, and dead civilians.

Things that make you go hmmm... In one incident in Mexico this week, gunmen attacked a convoy carrying two prisoners. In the aftermath, the two prisoners were turned over to the Mexican Marines. Next thing you know, one of them turns up dead on the side of a road and the other has gone missing. Hmmm.

The illegal drug supply is increasing, and Mexican narcos are public enemy #1, according to the Justice Department's primary drug intelligence unit. There's no end in sight, the unit concludes.

Mexico's prohibition-related violence took nearly another 300 lives this past week, including three US citizens connected to the US consulate in bloody Ciudad Juárez. That pushes the death toll since President Calderon sent in the army little more than three years ago over the 18,000 mark.

It's been a hard couple of weeks in Mexico. At least 375 people were killed in prohibition-related violence, including many police officers.

While elected officials on both sides of the board dismiss legalization of the drug trade, Mexico continues to pay the price. Another 137 people were killed in prohibition-related violence there this week.