![Mexico has said it would drop criminal charges against former defence minister Salvador Cienfuegos [File: Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/AP_16258859127411.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Attorney general says no evidence that Salvador Cienfuegos collaborated with major drug cartel.
Drugs
From colonial China’s opium wars to Cold War US politics, we trace rise of global drug trade and its political backers.
![Mexico's cannabis reform includes the recreational use of marijuana and would create the world's biggest national cannabis market in terms of population [File: Kevin Mohatt/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2019-12-20T015427Z_1924787683_RC2PYD9J1YR3_RTRMADP_3_USA-CANNABIS-COLORADO.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
The reforms would allow the legal cultivation of marijuana on Mexican soil after decades of drug war...
![In 2020, drugmakers raised prices on more than 860 drugs by about 5 percent on average, according to consultancy firm 3 Axis [File: Charles Platiau/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12-30T151555Z_276974543_RC2RXK923H7U_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-VACCINATION.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
COVID-19 has cut doctor visits and demand for some drugs, denting pharmaceutical firms’ revenues.
![Walmart, the world's biggest retailer, created a system that turned its 5,000 in-store pharmacies into a supplier of highly addictive painkillers, dating as early as June 2013, a lawsuit filed in US court alleges [File: Julio Cortez/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/walmart.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
The lawsuit, filed in Delaware, alleges Walmart failed to take its gatekeeping duties as a pharmacy seriously.
![David Sackler, a former board member of Purdue Pharma, acknowledged that addiction to OxyContin, a painkiller made by the company, played a role in the US's opioid addiction crisis [Handout via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-12-17T153825Z_332602650_RC23PK9T24N8_RTRMADP_3_USA-OPIOIDS.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
But Sackler family, owners of OxyContin maker Purdue, deflect blame during hearing. One politician calls them ‘evil’.
![Bottles of prescription painkiller OxyContin pills, made by Purdue Pharma LP [File: George Frey/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/2275a628a3324724b4626cfbd63a3ec9_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
The hearing comes after the drug company, maker of OxyContin, pleaded guilty to criminal charges.
![Police said the drugs, which were in 1kg packages, were incinerated on Tuesday [Marshall Islands Police Departments]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/000_8X89J3.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
The 5.5m fibreglass vessel was found at Ailuk atoll last week with 649kg of drugs estimated to be worth $80m.
![In this 2018 file photo, Christine Gagnon, of Southington, Connecticut holds a sign during a protest with others who have lost loved ones to OxyContin and opioid overdoses, outside the Purdue Pharma headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut [File: Jessica Hill/AP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AP_19197523459718.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Two members of Sackler family which owns Purdue Pharma agree to testify before committee investigating opioid crisis.
![Human rights advocates say as many as 27,000 people were killed in the drug war as of mid-2019 - including the victims killed by 'unknown gunmen' [File: Bullit Marquez/AP]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/b388a4b9208f43bb82857dfc2b0cadce_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
ICC prosecutor finds ‘reasonable basis to believe’ crimes against humanity committed in Duterte’s war on drugs campaign.
![A federal judge granted a US government request to drop drug corruption charges against Salvador Cienfuegos to allow Mexican officials to investigate him [File: Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/AP_16258859127411.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
The case prompted the government to threaten a review of agreements allowing US agents to operate in Mexico.
![Pfizer and BioNTech expect to produce up to 50 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine candidate globally this year and up to 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021 [File: Dado Ruvic/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2020-11-09T190946Z_1435010493_RC2VZJ93THWN_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-VACCINES-PFIZER-SCIENTISTS.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Pfizer and BioNTech will seek FDA Emergency Use Authorization for their COVID-19 vaccine ‘within days’.
![Mexico's former Defence Secretary General Salvador Cienfuegos attends an event at a military zone in Mexico City in 2016 [File: Henry Romero/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2020-11-11T184123Z_856141758_RC261K9E108V_RTRMADP_3_USA-MEXICO-CORRUPTION.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Charges against Salvador Cienfuegos to be dropped so he can be investigated in Mexico, says US attorney general.
![Mexico's then-secretary of national defense, General Salvador Cienfuegos, attends the 50th anniversary of the Plan of Assistance to the Population in case of Disaster in Mexico City, Mexico July 12, 2017 [Carlos Jasso/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2017-07-12T220744Z_1562890502_RC1C0B687980_RTRMADP_3_MEXICO-ARMY-ANNIVERSARY.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Mexican president says foreign minister spoke to US attorney general about the arrest of Salvador Cienfuegos on US soil.