Director General Dionisio Santiago of the Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has unveiled the Philippines? new illegal drug centers: the cities of Ozamis, Iligan and Marawi. The media report that Supt. Glenn Dichosa de la Torre, PDEA director for Northern Mindanao, has surmised that the drug syndicates may be taking advantage of the area?s strategic location as distribution center.Two shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) laboratories were shut down in Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental two years ago. As for shabu trade in Lanao del Sur and the Islamic city of Marawi, I wonder how the drug trade could have prospered when Lanao del Sur has been governed by a succession of religious leaders. Modern medicine treats drug addiction as a disease. There are many Christian missions that operate drug rehabilitation centers. Islam, however, considers consumption of alcohol and addictive substances as a sin. How can Marawi be an Islamic city and be a center of illegal drug distribution?Dr. Arafat El Ashi, director of the Muslim World League in Canada, wrote an article about the success of Islam against addiction. He maintains that Islam succeeds in fighting addiction by prohibiting intoxicants and asking the faithful to focus on change from within. He further questions how effective the other faiths can be in fighting addiction when these faiths encourage the consumption of wine, an intoxicant. When Islam was introduced to the Arab world, wine was acceptable and consumed by the majority. Islam changed this and the Quran prohibited the consumption of intoxicants. ?They ask you about wine and gambling, say in them is great sin and some profit for men, but the sin is greater than the profit [219-2].? The Quran commands the faithful: ?O you who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, dedication of stones and divination by arrows are an abomination of Satan?s handiwork. So eschew it all so that you may prosper. Satan?s plan is to excite enmity and hatred among you, with intoxicants and gambling and hinder you from the remembrance of God and prayer. Will you not, then, abstain?? (90-5).How then did Marawi and the Lanao provinces become drug distribution centers when Islam considers the consumption of intoxicants as a sin? The Moro Islamic Liberation Front wants Islamic law to be fully implemented in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. I wonder whether MILF leaders have brought the Moro drug dealers to justice, under Islamic law. Or have they, as have the other Moro leaders, turned a blind eye to these bringers of death and scourge of our youth, blinded by the gold that drug leaders provide as largesse?Perhaps PDEA Director General Santiago should have a drug summit in Marawi City or Iligan and invite all the leading ulama to address this pernicious scourge. After all, Islam considers drug use a sin.Seven years ago, I started including narcopolitics as one of the problems that complicate the situation in ARMM and the Muslim Mindanao communities. Seven years hence, the drug trade has expanded. It is an open secret who are the political leaders funded by drug lords. Are we headed toward the same situation as Colombia where government is in danger from drug lords? In an area of conflict where rule of law does not prevail, illegal activities mushroom. Kidnap for ransom, bribery and corruption, assassinations, gun running, illegal drug trade. Like the hydra, the drug trade sprouts new heads when one is chopped. Worse, it supports the other criminal syndicates and activities.A Maguindanao colleague once told me that ordinary people in ARMM do not condemn drug lords. ?At least the drug lords put money into the pockets of poor people. Political leaders take money out.?While the nation is glued to the unfolding national drama about ZTE and the mystery man (mister ni ma?am, according to a text joke), the illegal drugs trade continues to spread. Pretty soon, this will be a major industry in the south. Marawi or Iligan may well become the Medellin of the Philippines.As the Muslim world fasts and the faithful search inward for guidance to go back to the path of the righteous, may our leaders find the strength and the wisdom to fight the scourge of drugspicture shows what crystal meth does to yer mouth and teeth when smoked