Contributing writer Charles Bowden ("We Bring Fear") wrote this story to save reporter Emilio Gutiérrez Soto’s life. Eros Hoagland has been documenting Mexico’s drug wars and border clashes since 2005. Sarah Wilson’s photography frequently appears in Texas Monthly.

Our package on the War on Drugs also features National Book Award winner William T. Vollmann, whose piece on narcocorridos is adapted from his forthcoming book, Imperial. We assigned MoJo political blogger Kevin Drum to weigh the pros and cons of legalization ("The Patriot’s Guide to Legalization") because he’s never inhaled. (Seriously.) Rolling Stone‘s Ben Wallace-Wells unearths the secret history of the drug war ("Six Ways of Looking at the Drug War"); former 60 Minutes producer Frank Koughan, now based in Mexico, reports on the $1.4 billion US taxpayers are spending to fight drugs south of the border ("US-Trained Death Squads?"); and Center for Investigative Reporting’s Andrew Becker trails corruption in the border patrol ("Crossing the Line").

After investigating humanity’s water footprint ("What’s Your Water Footprint?), staff reporter Josh Harkinson takes much shorter showers.

Former MoJo staffer Justine Sharrock ("First, Do Harm") is writing a book on torture. Illustrator Barry Blitt drew last year’s notorious New Yorker fist-bump cover.

Charles Bowden

Virginia Heffernan

Eros Hoagland

Justine Sharrock

Laura McClure

Barry Blitt

Our multimedia editor, Laura McClure ("42 Hours, $500, 65 Breakdowns"), has yet to experience Transformation, Possibility, and Enrollment™.

Virginia Heffernan ("Let the End Times Roll") writes about TV for the New York Times Magazine; she hung out with the collapsitarians at South by Southwest.

Stephanie Mencimer ("I Love a Mark in Uniform") writes about consumer affairs from MoJo’s DC bureau. Contributing photographer Matt Eich has also shot for Newsweek and the Canadian Opera Company.

The Nation Institute’s Investigative Fund provided support for Petra Bartosiewicz‘s article ("A Thousand Little Gitmos") about secret terror courts on US soil.

When Washington bureau chief David Corn ("Can This Man Save the Planet?") ran into First Dude Todd Palin in May, his first words were, "Please don’t hit me."

Writer Amy Benfer ("And the Rand Played On") tends her (non-Galtian) garden in Brooklyn. Illustrator Thomas Fuchs’ book, GOP 100—Deconstructing Dumbo, offers 100 variations on the Republican logo.

Associate editor Kiera Butler ("Shady Business") used to think SPF was her BFF.