Earlier this month, former Mexican president Vicente Fox wrote that Mexico should consider legalizing drugs and current president Felipe Calderon has called for a debate on the idea. More than 28,000 people have died in Mexico in drug-related violence over the last 3 years. 

In recent weeks, much of northern Mexico has been gripped by anarchic violence as President Felipe Calderon takes on powerful drug cartels. The cartels' tactics are simple: use brute force to get what you want. The problem is—it's working. And increasingly, that violence is spilling across Mexico’s border into U.S. cities like El Paso and Phoenix. The Takeaway is joined by Sam Quinones, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, and Tracy Wilkinson, Mexico Bureau Chief for the same paper. Both have been providing coverage for the paper’s series: “Mexico Under Siege.”

For more, follow the series, Mexico Under Siege, in the Los Angeles Times.