A TALE OF DRUGS' TOLL ON FAMILY, TWO NATIONS

The U-T series by Morgan Lee and Janine Zuniga about Edgar Jimenez
Lopez, the San Diego-born youth facing trial in Mexico on charges of
being a cartel assassin, has provided a wrenching portrait of a family
devastated by drugs, but also of two nations and their intertwined and
troubled relationship.

It may be easy for Americans to look at Edgar's family and see the
tragedies they have faced as the result of individuals' failings. It's
also easy for us to look at the chaos triggered by President Felipe
Calderon's crackdown on cartels in Mexico and say, "Stay the course."

But as the series illustrated - and as the essays elsewhere in this
section point out - the issues aren't simple.

Poverty and a lack of opportunity make bad decisions more likely -
whether to use drugs as an escape or to work for cartels to make a
living and to avoid their wrath.

Meanwhile, some Mexicans believe that the U.S. has pushed Calderon
into the crackdown without doing nearly enough to reduce Americans'
demand for illegal drugs - which is what enriches the cartels and
makes them so powerful. They think the U.S. government, and Americans
in general, need to much more fully acknowledge the toll our appetite
for illegal drugs has taken on their country. And after 35,000 deaths,
they wonder if Calderon's crackdown has remotely been worth the carnage.

For Americans, Mexicans and their leaders, these difficult, complex
concerns won't go away whatever happens to Edgar at his trial.