1 So why does the drug war keep growing?

2 The drug war is a skirmish, the leftist gangs an irritant.

3 It is fair to say that the global drug war began 400 years ago this autumn, when a man named John Rolfe obtained tobacco seeds from the Caribbean.

4 Latin America's drift away from a US-led drug war stems partly from Colombia and Mexico's suffering and partly from growing boldness in challenging the gringo superpower.

5 In many areas of the world, the drug war has been rolled back.

6 The incident has cast light on the creeping privatisation of the drug war.

7 Under the law, the United States suspends all assistance programs to any country not certified as cooperating in the drug war.

8 Before he was reincarnated as Mr Virtue, Bennett commanded the drug war in the Bush administration.

9 The government made an announcement about changes in the drug war.

10 Mexico's economy, already hurting from recession and a bloody drug war, is set to scream.

11 These novelas are being distributed all over Latin America and the U.S. They influence how Latinos in other countries view the drug war — but not necessarily in a positive way.

12 These soap operas share some dramatic ingredients with the actual drug war in Mexico: executions, lavish lifestyles and international fame.

13 The billions in annual profits have corrupted governments worldwide, and La Paz, without intending it, seems to have mutated into the front line of this failed drug war.

14 The organization LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, has recently released a report entitled "Ending the Drug War: A Dream Deferred" on the 40th anniversary of the War on Drugs.

15 It seems like everyone I talk to about narco cultura is also passionately following news of the drug war in Mexico.

16 It's just one of a new genre of telenovelas about Mexico's explosive drug war.