Collateral Damage: Mexico’s Drug War Draws in Women

Women, teenagers -- the politically created, illegal drug trade draws more and more vulnerable, needy people into the business of the cartels and, then, into prison or death. 

NYTimes.com: "The number of women incarcerated for federal crimes (in Mexico) has grown by 400 percent since 2007, pushing the total female prison population past 10,000. No one here seems to know what to make of the spike. Clearly, the rise can partly be attributed to the long reach of drug cartels, which have expanded into organized crime, and drawn in nearly everyone they can, including women. Detained lieutenants for cartels have told the police that some act as lookouts. Other women work as drug mules, killers, or as “la gancha” (the hook), using their beauty to attract male kidnapping victims."

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