To go back to
the hammer for a moment, if I go out and buy a hammer and
bash somebody's head in with it, then I am guilty of murder. The company
that made the hammer, and the shop that sold it to me, are not. And
that's how it should be.
Scary thing is... here in the US, it doesn't seem to work that logically.
People have been sueing gun manufacturers off and on because they made
the gun that was used to kill someone.
Well, when it comes to drugs, this kind of logic doesn't work at all. You can
be criminally liable for merely "possessing" usable
quantities of certain drugs. Also, if someone comes into your shop and says "sell me
that hammer so I can go bash in so-and-so's
head," and you sell that someone the hammer, you very well can be held liable for
aiding and abetting a murder. None of these
situations are as black and white as they are often made out to be.