The blame game
How insane is the general population?
Please, let me elaborate.
Why is the pharmaceutical industry being charged with the proliferation of drugs, when all they do is provide their products to licensed physicians? Is it because irresponsible people take medication, for which they are given a prescription, without regard to the instructions attached?
How stupid are these people who abuse their medication!
But why not blame the manufacturer? They have plenty of money! And what about those who indulge in taking pills that were not prescribed?
Also, the tobacco industry — why are they subject to penalties for providing a product, with or without advertising, to minors? No tobacco company gives products to underage persons. People need to ask for cigarettes. Same thing as stated above — why penalize the manufacturer?
One more thing to consider: guns! Why subject the manufacturer to the actions of people who abuse and misuse their products?
Now for the other side of the equation.
Beer and other intoxicants — why are the suppliers not held accountable for the misuse of the products they sell? Never happens, unless they (the supplier) holds a gun to the head of a user and demands they drink in excess.
And finally, the auto manufacturers. If someone is killed or injured on the roadway (a very rare occurrence!) by a vehicle, why not blame the assembly plant or maker of the vehicle?
Let’s simplify things and have all manufacturers of any product be liable for the irresponsible use of their products by the general population.
Michael L. Last
Naalehu
Gun deaths
While I don’t disagree with Jim Tatar’s general statements (“Open the door,” Your Views, Aug. 10) about the perilous nature of police work, his assertion that “Far more people are killed with knives than guns” is off-base.
According to the FBI’s 2017 statistics, roughly 11,000 people were killed with firearms, while only 1,600 were killed with knives.
I would ask that the Tribune-Herald do some very basic fact-checking before running letters with inaccurate claims.
David Dunton
Volcano