Some 19 million Americans use illicit drugs at least once per month, spending by most conservative estimates over $60 billion annually in a diverse and fragmented criminal market. Such drugs are to varying degrees injurious to the health, judgment, productivity and general well-being of their users. Additionally, the U.S. illicit drug market generates billions of dollars in profits. Such profits provide international drug trafficking organizations with the resources to evade and compete with law enforcement agencies, to penetrate legitimate economic structures, and, in some instances, to challenge the authority of national governments. Calculated in dollar value terms, at least four-fifths of all the illicit drugs consumed in the United States are of foreign origin, including virtually all the cocaine and heroin and most of the marijuana. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the methamphetamine market is supplied predominantly from laboratories in both the United States and Mexico while most of the hallucinogens and illegally marketed psychotherapeutic drugs and "designer" drugs are of domestic U.S. origin. Drugs are a lucrative business and a mainspring of global criminal activity. Knowledge is incomplete about the distribution of revenues from illicit drug sales, but foreign supply cartels exercise considerable control over wholesale distribution in the United States and illicit proceeds are often laundered and invested through foreign banks and financial institutions. The federal anti-drug initiative has two major elements: (1) reduction of demand and (2) reduction of supply. Reduction of demand is sought through education to prevent dependence, through treatment to cure addiction and through measures to increase prices and risk of apprehension at the consumer level. Reduction of supply, which currently accounts for about 64.5% of the federal anti-drug control budget, is sought by programs aimed at destabilizing the operations of illicit drug cartels at all levels and severing their links to political power, and by seizing their products, businesses, and financial assets. As most illicit drugs are imported, a major interdiction campaign is being conducted on the U.S. borders, at ports of entry, on the high seas, and along major foreign transshipment routes and at production sites. An international program of source crop eradication is also being pursued. Approximately 24.6% of the requested federal drug control budget of $12.6 billion for FY2007 is for interdiction and 11.5% is for international assistance programs. These ratios continue to remain relatively constant. The major international components of federal policies for the reduction of illicit supply are discussed below. On March 1, 2006, the State Department released its annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) , a congressionally-mandated comprehensive assessment of the efforts of foreign nations to combat the illicit drug trade and drug related money laundering. The primary stated goal of U.S. international drug policy is to reduce the supply of illicit narcotics flowing into the United States. A second and supporting goal is to reduce the amount of illicit drugs cultivated, processed, and consumed worldwide. U.S. international drug control policy is implemented by a multifaceted strategy that includes the following elements: eradication of narcotic crops; interdiction and law enforcement activities in drug-producing and drug-transiting countries; international cooperation; sanctions/economic assistance; and institutional development. The U.S. State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) has the lead role in coordinating U.S. international drug intervention and suppression activities. A long-standing U.S. policy regarding international drug control is to reduce cultivation and production of illicit narcotics through eradication. The United States supports programs to eradicate coca, opium, and marijuana in a number of countries. These efforts are conducted by a number of U.S. government agencies administering several types of programs. The United States supports eradication by providing producer countries with chemical herbicides, technical assistance and specialized equipment, and spray aircraft. The U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) funds programs designed to promote economic growth and to provide alternative sources of employment for the people currently growing, producing, or processing illicit drugs. U.S. eradication policy receives informational support from the State Department's Office of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, which publicizes the dangers of drug abuse and trafficker violence. In addition, AID sponsors drug education and awareness programs in 33 Latin American, Asian, and East European countries. On January 2, 2005, the Los Angeles Times reported a Bush Administration split over how to respond to Afghanistan's skyrocketing opium poppy production. Central to the debate is what some view as potentially competing U.S. policy objectives in the war-torn nation, i.e., counterterrorism, counter-narcotics, and political stability. A second element of U.S. international narcotics control strategy is to help host governments seize illicit narcotics before they reach America's borders. A related imperative is to attack and disrupt large aggregates of criminal power, to immobilize their top leaders and to sever drug traffickers' ties to the economy and to the political hierarchy. Training of foreign law enforcement personnel constitutes a major part of such endeavors. The Department of State funds anti-narcotics law enforcement training programs for foreign personnel from more than 70 countries. In addition, the Department of State provides host country anti-narcotics personnel with a wide range of equipment, and DEA agents regularly assist foreign police forces in their efforts to destabilize trafficking networks. U.S. efforts to promote effective law enforcement against drug traffickers also include suggestions to nations on means to strengthen their legal and judicial systems. Finally, an important judicial tool against drug dealers is extradition. A November 2005 report released by the Government Accountability Office argues for the development of better counter-drug performance measures by government agencies and warns that the commitment of military assets to Iraq and Afghanistan is likely to hamper the ability of U.S. law enforcement to intercept drug shipments in the future. Proponents of strong drug interdiction policies have long been concerned that the nation's focus on anti-terror objectives will detract from resources and political will needed to combat foreign illicit drug production and trafficking. A major challenge facing the counter-drug law enforcement and intelligence community is how best to target criminal facilitators who may be working both for drug organizations and terrorist groups. As links between terrorist organizations and criminal groups appear to be a growing phenomenon, development of new mechanisms to collect and effectively share "targeting information" may warrant attention. A related issue involves deciding which agency/agencies should take action when suspects are involved in "dual use" (crime/terror) criminal support activity. Essentially all elements of U.S. international narcotics control strategy require international cooperation. By use of diplomatic initiatives, both bilateral and multilateral, the Department of State encourages and assists nations to reduce cultivation, production, and trafficking in illicit drugs. These bilateral agreements and international conventions have been seen thus far as largely ineffective in reversing the growth of international narcotics trafficking, in part because they lack strong enforcement mechanisms and are not uniformly interpreted by member nations. U.S. international narcotics control strategy also requires cooperation among governments to coordinate their border operations to interdict traffickers. To this end, the U.S. government has provided technical assistance for anti-drug programs in other countries. For FY2006, the State Department's international narcotics control budget appropriations totaled $1.2 billion to assist programs globally, including $79.2 million for Bolivia, $106.9 million for Peru, $464.8 million for Colombia, and $19.88 million for Ecuador. For FY2007, the State Department's international drug control budget request totaled $1.5 billion to assist programs globally, including $66 million for Bolivia, $98.5 million for Peru, $465 million for Colombia, and $17.3 million for Ecuador. Also requested was $65.5 million for interregional aviation support to provide aircraft for anti-drug programs in other countries, a slight increase from FY2006 appropriations levels of $62.9 million. The United States also participates in multilateral assistance programs through the U.N. International Drug Control Program and actively enlists the aid and support of other governments for narcotics control projects. The U.N. currently assists some 67 developing countries through development, law enforcement, education, treatment, and rehabilitation programs. For FY2007, the Bush Administration requested $14.5 million for general anticrime/anticorruption programs and $5.4 million for narcotics control-related contributions to international organizations; the majority of the latter would constitute the U.S. voluntary contribution to the U.N. drug control program. A fourth element of U.S. international narcotics control strategy involves the threat of, or application of, sanctions against drug producer or trafficker nations. These range from suspension of U.S. foreign assistance to curtailment of air transportation. Current law on International Drug Control Certification Procedures ( P.L. 107-228 , Section 706) requires the President to submit to Congress not later than September 15 of the preceding fiscal year a report identifying each country determined to be a major drug transit or drug producing country as defined in section 481(e) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. In the report the President must designate each country that has "failed demonstrably" to meet its counternarcotics obligations. Designated countries would be ineligible for foreign assistance unless the President determined that that assistance was vital to the U.S. national interest or that the country had made "substantial efforts" to improve its counternarcotics performance. A second certification process was enacted by Congress as part of the USA Patriot Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 , P.L. 109-177 , 120 Stat. 256 (March 9, 2006).