The hysteria over Mexico’s drug war has reached a fever pitch in the United States.

It’s true that the violence is horrible, the brazenness of many attacks disconcerting, and the manner in which they are carried out gruesome. That innocent civilians are often caught in the middle is doubly worse.

El Universal is reporting that 6,476 people have been killed this year in drug-related violence, but the number is more telling when adjusted for population.

Mexico’s overall homicide rate has actually been declining over the years but is still double that of the U.S. (10.00 vs 5.8 per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively) (source: the UN as reported on Wikipedia).