Sentence:  As the world's drug habit shows, governments are <WSD>failing</WSD> in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs. No sooner has a drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To be unsuccessful.