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February 16, 2025
More Girls Than Boys Are Using Fentanyl. What Is Going on in the Lives of These Girls?
In the latest sign that something is seriously amiss in the lives of adolescent girls, we now have figures on drug use in 2023 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. And girls seem to be outdoing their male peers — not in a good way. When asked if they have used cannabis,…
February 15, 2025
One Man’s Quest to Keep Kids Away from Drugs
he audience of 35 teenagers shuffling into a classroom at Twin Oaks High school on a Thursday morning does not look friendly. Heads down and dark sweatshirt hoods up, there is barely any chatter. But Rocky Herron is not deterred. Herron, a towering former Drug Enforcement Administration agent and a recently minted grandfather, begins a…
February 2, 2025
Don’t Believe the Lies about Cannabis
Does “making America healthy again” mean the federal legalization of marijuana? Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose hearings to be confirmed as the next secretary of Health and Human Services took place this week, seems to think so. When Kennedy was running for president as an independent, he released an ad noting that he wanted to…
November 2, 2023
How Churches Can Make a Difference in the Lives of Children Who Need Foster Care
Who is willing to foster a child? It’s a question that has vexed policymakers and civic leaders for decades. Most states have experienced a chronic shortage of foster families. Public service announcements tout the need, with the most recent theme being, “You don’t have to be perfect to be the perfect parent.” But fostering a…
August 3, 2023
Philanthropists Discover the Value of “Sunsetting”
This year, the William E. Simon Foundation is closing its doors, or “sunsetting,” in the parlance of modern philanthropy. Since it was founded in 1967 by former Treasury Secretary William E. Simon and his wife Carol, the foundation has given away almost $300 million to the causes that mattered to them—faith, family and education. It…
May 1, 2023
Closing Young Minds
Roger Brooks describes himself as a “loyal supporter” of Durham Academy. A member of the class of 1980, he has donated money every year to support the 1,200-student North Carolina private school. His father was chairman of the board of trustees in the 1970s. When he left New York to move back to his hometown…
March 24, 2023
How Religious Faith and a Sense of Agency Corresponds with Mental Health
“Sisterhood is powerful.” That was an early slogan of feminism, but it’s hard to imagine it being used to describe young women today. In fact, as a number of scholars have recently noticed, the mental health crisis being experienced by many teen and young adult women may have something to do with how little power…