Below is an hour-long segment on the US-fueled narco wars cannibalizing Mexico. Although nothing new is said, it is important for people, particularly Americans, to see the total devastation we are causing with our gun supply, drug demand and, most critically, heinous drug policies.

Good Boy, Jim. The number that matters? 500% That's the amount of increase in our prison populations, in just 30 years. I knew it was bad, I didn't know it was that bad.

I don't know if anything will come of these hearings, but I'm glad to see Webb at least bringing it to our attention. I think, and have said many times before, that money is the key to ending the drug war. That is, the country is broke, and increasingly the choice will be food and health care for children and the elderly, or millions to prison companies who incarcerate hippies caught with a couple of joints. Via the ever essential DrugWar Rant.

Your tax dollars at work:

The effectiveness of government-produced ads in curtailing drug use has long been a matter of debate. At the start of its media campaign in 1998, the ONDCP hired Westat, a firm that specializes in research for government, to gauge whether the advertisements were decreasing drug use among youth. Westat analyzed parents' and teenagers' responses to the ads and concluded that the messages did not lead young people to disapprove of drug use. In fact, researchers concluded the opposite, finding that in some cases the ads increased first-time marijuana use.