As the waves of the financial meltdown pound banks and governments, the human cost is easily lost in the background. From layoffs to shattered dreams, the global crisis becomes a personal crisis. Do we really see how deeply it reaches into the global community?

SOURCES: Al Jazeera English, Qatar; CNN, U.S.; Deutsche Welle, Germany; South Asia Newsline, India; Russia Today, Russia; KBS, South Korea.

Beheadings, assassinations, gun battles on the street - Mexico is ground zero in the global war on drugs. U.S. media focuses on the spread of violence north of the border, as drug cartels spread fear and intimidation south of it. What will it take for Mexico to beat the drug lords?

Sources: Once Noticias, Mexico; TeleSur, Venezuela; TVE, Spain; Galavision, Mexico; Al Jazeera English, Qatar; NBC, U.S.; CNN, U.S.; Fox News, U.S.; BBC News Online, U.K.; Stratfor Global Intelligence, U.S.

This week, Global Pulse examines rising drug-related violence in northern Mexico that threatens to spread across the U.S.-Mexico region. Is U.S. anti-drug policy contributing to this new crime wave? And what options do Mexican and U.S. authorities have to limit drug warfare at the border?

In the Wall Street Journal, former Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo co-authors an editorial calling for a drastic re-evaluation of anti-drug policies in the U.S. and Latin America. "The war on drugs has failed," Zedillo's editorial states, imploring President Obama to work with current Latin American heads of state to remake drug policies in the interest of public health. At the RAND Corporation, Brian Michael Jenkins similarly calls for treating drug consumption as a public health issue.

But the bloody standoff in recent weeks between elected officials of Ciudad Juarez in northern Mexico and local drug cartels has escalated fears that Mexican and U.S. leaders will fail to intervene appropriately to end the cycle of violence. At the Huffington Post for instance, Sandy Goodman notes the "prospect of this uncontrolled violence crossing the border" in spite of law enforcement efforts.

Can effective government intervention put an end to the Mexican drug wars? Watch the Global Pulse video and let us know your thoughts in the comments section above.