Drug use continues a decade-long drop. America's high school students are using drugs and alcohol at or near the lowest levels on record, according to federal data released Wednesday. The 2015 Monitoring the Future Survey,
conducted by the University of Michigan and the National Institute on
Drug Abuse (NIDA) ... MORE
by Veronique deRugy. Candidates running for president should take the following warning seriously: Years of bad government policies catering to interest groups have created a generation of young people facing tremendous challenges in the labor market and little chance to experience the good old American dream. We can hope that someone ... MORE
by Claire Landsbaum. It must unanimous now. The war on drugs is over, and weed won. D.A.R.E., the organization
designed to plant a deep-seated fear of drugs in the minds of every
late-20th-century middle schooler, published an op-ed calling for marijuana legalization. Written by former deputy sheriff Carlis McDerment in response to a letter ... MORE
Dangerous student loan rhetoric. Hillary Clinton’s big campaign rally over the weekend offered a hint of how she’s going to handle a trillion-dollar question—what to do about demands by Senator Elizabeth Warren and the remnants of the “Occupy” movement for forgiveness of student loan debt. “I believe that success isn’t measured by how ... MORE
by Joe Pinsker. As government grows, the private economy shrinks. In 1996, when asked a series of questions about the brightness of her future, one high-school senior in an unnamed Midwestern state said, “There’s been extraordinary examples of people that have been poor and stuff that have risen to the top just from their personal hard work … not ... MORE
by Mara Liasson. Rand Paul is not like other potential presidential candidates. The Kentucky senator, who announced his candidacy for the White House on Tuesday morning, doesn't fit neatly into the molds of either party. Socially liberal on issues of crime and punishment — especially when it comes to drug sentencing — against a federal ... MORE
Can appeal to the young win with the Grand OLD Party. When Sen. Rand Paul
makes his first visit to Iowa as an official presidential candidate
next month, he will head to the campus of the University of Iowa. The
location—one of the state's biggest liberal strongholds—seems unusual
for a Republican, but Paul is headed there in the hopes ... MORE
Technology's healthier choice. Survey results released last week indicate that use of electronic cigarettes by American teenagers continues to rise, even as their use of conventional cigarettes continues to fall. You might think these diverging trends would give pause to critics who worry that e-cigarettes are "reglamorizing" the old- ... MORE
by Tim Worstall. We’ve news from the government that the use of e-cigarettes, or vaping, is on the rise among schoolchildren and teenagers. We might think that this is a health story and it is, but behind it is an interesting little economic point and a guide to public policy. The question really revolves around whether vaping is a substitute ... MORE
by Michael Minkoff. In a non-intuitive twist, it seems that pot legalization in marijuana has not contributed to a sharp increase in teen marijuana use. In fact, legalization might be contribuing to a drop in teen use: Since the passage of HB10-1284, Colorado’s
historical medical marijuana regulation legislation, current marijuana
use among ... MORE
by John W. Whitehead. After a year dominated with news of police shootings of unarmed citizens (including children), SWAT team raids gone awry, photo ops of militarized police shouldering assault rifles while perched on top of armored vehicles, and reports on how the police are using asset forfeiture laws to pad their pockets with luxury cars, ... MORE
Dismantling the gridiron. To the list of issues that divide the country along partisan lines, you can add an unusual item: football. Yes, virtually every slice of America still watches football in enormous numbers. But blue America — particularly the highly educated Democratic-leaning areas of major metropolitan areas — is ... MORE
by Jacob Sullum. Rise of the mystery high. Last week NBC News broadcast
a story about Cloud 9, "a dangerous new synthetic drug
that's been turning up at high schools." Anchorman Lester Holt
warned that Cloud 9 is "legal, unregulated and readily
available at convenience stores"; that it "has sent almost two
dozen young people to ... MORE
How to prevent the young and poor from succeeding. Let’s face it. I’m not that young anymore. I’m also not poor anymore, and I live a comfortable middle-class American life. Most older, better off middle-classers like me got where we are through the dynamic market process. The trouble is, now that we’re doing pretty well, that same ... MORE
by Nick Sibilla. No good deed goes unpunished. Dr. Elizabeth Gohl was a dentist in the U.S.
Navy for five years, where she performed hundreds of teeth extractions
on sailors. She left the Navy and moved to Arkansas, where she wanted to
extract teeth for free at a charity event. But the state said no. Even though she is a licensed dentist and an orthodontist, a bizarre law kept her from volunteering. Arkansas is just one of eight states that ban orthodontists from performing basic dental services, like cleaning or removing teeth. The law also ... MORE
Economics is about incentives. If the teen unemployment rate isn’t high enough for you, raise the minimum wage to $10 or $15 an hour. A year ago, the teen unemployment rate was over 25%. It has declined to 20% a year later, that is progress, but it is still unacceptably high. That means that I of every 5 our young citizens that want to work ... MORE