Addictive powers of opioids
Regarding “Opioid urgency” (Editorial, Aug. 4): As someone who used Oxycodone for a month to treat nerve damage and pain from faulty dental surgery, I can attest to the addictive power of opioids. I started to develop a dependency on the drug, and even experienced withdrawal symptoms (severe dizziness) when I stopped taking it.
Our country must treat the issue of opioid addiction and related overdose deaths as a grave health crisis. Unfortunately, President Trump’s promise to act on this matter is as empty as his promises to reform health care, cut taxes and improve our nation’s infrastructure.
Margot Travers, San Francisco
Shortsighted bill
Regarding “Not welcome” (Editorial, Aug. 3): How ironic that two Republican senators from two of the four largest cotton-producing states, Georgia and Arkansas, are leading the charge in a bill to reduce immigration to our country by up to 41 percent in the first year. In the olden days, these two states relied heavily on “immigrants” to do the drudge work of picking cotton. But they weren’t called immigrants, they were called slaves.
Now that such work is largely mechanized, the two senators feel free to raise the bar, even though most newcomers to our country are desperately needed, especially if our country is to maintain a vibrant economy. How mean-spirited and shortsighted!
Alan Godfarb, San Rafael
Gene-editing issue
Regarding “Gene-editing tool raises thorny issues of difference and disease” (Open Forum, Aug. 4): I read, not with interest but rather with mounting horror, Rachel Kolb and Dakota McCoy’s argument against gene editing in which they suggest preserving genetic deafness because of its benefit as a “generative resource.” I wonder how many deaf people would choose to have their children born deaf.
Louis Bryan, San Francisco
Doomed strategy
I was dumbfounded after reading columnist Andrew Malcolm’s “North Korea missile launch justifies nukes for neighbors” (Aug. 4). He thinks the best way to counter the “Hermit Kingdom’s” growing nuclear threat is to arm South Korea and Japan with nuclear weapons?
Such a suggestion could result in millions upon millions of deaths on that peninsula and likely be the trigger point for World War III. Whatever happened to the idea of using diplomatic negotiations to reduce military tensions? Malcolm’s column on this subject matter is not just “dangerous,” it’s “apocalyptic.”
Charles Carrington, San Francisco
Diversion tactics
Regarding “Little clarity a week after transgender tweet” (Aug. 2): It is obvious that President Trump’s tweet was another successful distraction, a veer into left field. The real news of the moment was the testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee of Bill Browder, a businessman who operated in Russia. He let it be known that anyone doing business in Russia is involved, intentionally or not, with corruption.
This was too close to home for Trump, so he did what he does best and started a diversionary brush fire. It could have been on any issue; he just happened to pick transgender people in the military.
I encourage the media to improve its ability to assess Trump’s true intentions when he tosses out random opinions. Holly Hadlock, Mill Valley
Narcissistic tweet
By not tweeting a phrase such as “our military leaders,” President Trump reconfirmed the narcissistic viewpoint that everyone has known about for years. Just the phrase “my generals” is an indicator. Not to mention that the military leaders seem to have been blindsided by the tweet. Gene Nielsen, Crescent Mills
Big losses for U.S.
At his ego-boosting rally in West Virginia on Aug. 3, President Trump called the Russia investigation “an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of American politics.”
While I rarely support his views, on this I couldn’t agree more: America has lost its standing with other nations of the world, we’ve lost our adherence to constitutional law, our expectation that the commander in chief place the welfare of American citizens uppermost in his agenda, we’ve relinquished our leadership position in environmental issues and, to top it all off, this president calls the beautiful, historic White House “a dump.” Ruth Bailey, Lafayette
Tesla’s costly cars
Tesla has just started selling its Model 3, a car geared (so to speak) for the middle class. But one must wonder what middle class means these days. Frankly, most ordinary folks can barely afford a 10-year-old used car, much less a vehicle that lists for at least $35,000 plus fees, taxes and very high insurance premiums.
CEO Elon Musk and his associates may have brought the price down on their hightech automobiles, but it surely leaves the real middle class once again, essentially ... outclassed. Marc Winokur, Oakland