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--:-- Georgia Howe: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID, and contact details. It's just one of the many places that has your personal info. And if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft. LifeLock monitors millions of data points a second. If you become a victim, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year at LifeLock.com slash podcast. Terms apply.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Teens are taking more and more psychiatric drugs, this according to multiple recent studies. What's behind the troubling trend and how is it affecting vulnerable teens? I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's September 24th, and this is your Saturday edition of Morning Wire. A perfect storm of harvest mishaps and supply chain issues are causing food supply concerns to grow. We discuss how experts say we can get the food supply back on track. And we speak to well-known libertarian and Whole Foods founder John Mackey about his concerns surrounding new ESG trends in business management. They're trying to force certain political values down the throats from all businesses. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. to the proper people in your life. Plus, it's incredibly easy and affordable with Epic Will. It only costs $119 for a single person to create a will. And when you use promo code WIRE, you'll save 10%. Go to epicwill.com and use promo code WIRE to save 10%.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Multiple recent reports suggest that psychiatric drug use among teens has increased dramatically in the past decade, with a large portion of those teens taking more than one medication. It's a trend that doctors say does not always solve the underlying issues and can have serious negative side effects. Daily Wire investigative reporter Maraid Elordi is here with the details for us. So Maraid, tell us about this concerning trend.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Hi, Georgia. So there have been concerns about teens taking multiple psychiatric medications for at least a decade. Recently, though, the New York Times highlighted the issue. In recent years, the use of antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs has risen dramatically among Gen Z. From 2015 to 2019, the use of antidepressants spiked 38% among 13 to 19-year-olds. In general, about twice as many teen girls than boys take antidepressants.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: The pandemic exacerbated U.S. teens' mental health further. Meanwhile, more teens are taking multiple psychiatric drugs at the same time. A 2020 study showed that about 41% of young people ages 2 to 24 who were prescribed an ADHD drug were also prescribed at least one other drug for a disorder like depression or anxiety. More than 50 different psychotropic drugs were prescribed in combinations like this. According to the Times, about half of those drugs were not even approved for use by teens.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: The Times described a high school freshman girl who was prescribed 10 different psychiatric drugs for her depression and anxiety starting with Prozac Some of the drugs were intended for seizures migraines and schizophrenia none of which she had but they were prescribed to stabilize her mood and help with side effects Even with all the drugs, though, this particular teen girl still often felt sad. Now, are these drugs being pushed by doctors? Well, many psychiatrists are warning that while these drugs can save the lives of suicidal teens, they are over-prescribed to teens who really need therapy.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: To some extent, though, the rise may also be driven by the sheer number of kids presenting with mental health issues. About a decade ago, multiple psychiatric medication use initially became common among foster children and kids from low-income families. But now it's common even for kids coming from stable families. The Times noted that the cocktail of medications often starts with ADHD meds, which are very commonly prescribed to kids and can lead to more prescriptions when the first one doesn't solve all the problems or causes side effects.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: In 2013, the clinical definition of ADHD was broadened. The old definition was, quote, some hyperactive, impulsive, or inattentive symptoms that caused impairment. But the definition was updated to not require impairment, which led to a spike in diagnoses. By 2016, about 13% of kids 12 to 17 had been diagnosed with ADHD. Now, is there evidence that these drugs are helping kids? Well, certainly there are teens who say they are helping and doctors who have seen good results. But it's hard to say that they're truly working since the increase in prescriptions has coincided with the teen suicide rate climbing more than 50% over the last decade.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: There are serious side effects to these drugs, and they're not always totally reversible. Side effects can include psychotic episodes, suicidal behavior, weight gain, and even interference with reproductive development, according to one recent study. Well, the mental health crisis with young people is a huge issue. Maraid, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks, Maraid. That's Daily Wire investigative reporter Maraid Olourdi.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Coming up, the global food supply continues to be a concern. Hey there, producer Colton here. Do you like to be the first to know about trendy news and current events? If so, you got to get the Daily Wire Plus app. Not only will you receive mobile notifications whenever something's happening, but you'll also have access to the best commentary to break it all down. Download the Daily Wire Plus app and keep up with the facts no matter where your day takes you.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The worldwide food supply continues to be a concern as the harvest in the United States is yielding less than desirable results. What are the global causes and regional struggles that many are facing? Here to give us the details on the situation is Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Yes, the food supply situation isn't exactly getting much better. According to the Wall Street Journal, high up executives at agricultural companies said that crop resources are still sparse and some even said that we need at least another two years of good yields in North and South America to get back on track.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: All right, so a couple of years really to get back to normal. And we've covered the global drought and the war in Ukraine having contributed to this crisis. Are those still the main issues that we can point to? Those are definitely major factors. Specifically here in the U.S., the heat really impacted corn this summer. On September 12th, the U.S. Agriculture Department brought down its corn production estimate for the country to 13.9 billion bushels, which is 3% lower than its forecast in August and 8% under 2021's amount.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: And estimates for soybean production were also down 3% from August. And Professional Farmers of America, an agricultural group, recently lowered its projection for corn harvest by 13% in Nebraska and 22 in South Dakota contrasted with last year So some significant dips in some important crops there How is this going to impact costs Well the Chicago Board of Trade has futures wheat prices up 17 over the past year and corn costs are up around 28 with soybeans around 14 High food prices, however, are certainly being felt more in poorer nations this year.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: A USDA report estimated the amount of people who are food insecure in 77 low- and middle-income nations. Their estimation is at 1.3 billion people, which is a jump of almost 10% from the 2021 number. And again, this is all coming together as kind of a perfect storm. The bad weather over the course of years has impacted areas that yield lots of crops, like in South America. And that has made global crop resources thin, according to industry leaders.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: And then there's the war in Ukraine. Right. That impacted the area where lots of grains exported. All of that caused higher costs, particularly for poorer nations. But the slightly good news was that some of those prices had gotten better after Russia and Ukraine struck a deal in July that allowed grain to be sent out through the Black Sea. Still, this summer, Ukraine had sent out only around 60% of what it had shipped in previous years. That's according to Archer Daniels Midland CEO, Juan Luciano.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Between March and August, it sent out around 40% of the grain it ordinarily would, and the exports could get up to more like 80% or 90% for this month. But this month, Putin implied that Russia could remove itself from the agreement. His comments pushed wheat costs higher for a little while, which had been going down.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Well, this is definitely a global issue that will have wide-reaching impacts. Charlotte, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Grocery game changer John Mackey founded Whole Foods with the idea of conscious capitalism. As a well-known libertarian, Mackey has frequently advocated for free markets and capitalism. But as Mackey retires this month, he says he regrets any potential influence his conscious capitalism movement may have had on the push towards the ESG movement. Here to tell us more is Carrie Sheffield, a fellow with the State Financial Officers Foundation.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: Hey, thanks for having me, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The premise behind conscious capitalism is that businesses should operate ethically while they pursue profits. The management philosophy of conscious capitalism was created by Whole Foods co-founder John Mackey and Babson College marketing professor Raj Shasodia. The four guiding principles behind conscious capitalism include a higher purpose, stakeholder orientation, conscious leadership, and conscious culture.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: By conscious, Mackey told me he means creating a positive work environment with a business objective that is good for society. So in the case of Whole Foods, Mackey says he created the grocery chain with the objective to nourish people with healthy food, which makes an inherently aspirational business model. I caught up with Mackey at Freedom Fest. It's an annual gathering for libertarians in Las Vegas. He said that executing that model successfully from his viewpoint requires very careful attention.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: It's very hard to sell people on, hey, your job at Whole Foods is to make as much money for the shareholders as possible. And that's not aspirational. And every business has potential for a higher purpose besides maximizing profits. And that comes in because ultimately the purpose of business is to create value for customers. Goods and services that other people want to buy. That's the essence of business. And so the higher purpose of the business will come from that type of value creation.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: So Mackey believes businesses should have a purpose beyond simply making money. Now proponents of ESG or environmental social and corporate governance rules which are really gaining a lot of momentum in the business world also say something similar But Mackey been a harsh critic of ESG So what does he say the distinction is between the two?
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: Well, Mackey says that conscious capitalism is a voluntary management style, while ESG is based on forcible mandates that could undermine the business itself. So, for example, ESG would impose green energy mandates or gender or racial diversity quotas on board composition. But according to Mackey, conscious capitalism would not mandate this because it might end up harming the consumers and the company's higher purpose.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: Their own environmental values, their own values about diversity, race, their own values about equality, equity. But mostly it's about power. They don't want the investors to have control of their businesses. They want to tell the investors what they need to be doing. They want to put other stakeholder groups on the boards so that investors will always act in the best interest of the investors.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: And insofar as conscious capitalism influences people who do this, and I regret it, I don't think corporations, I think the owners control businesses, not intellectualists, not government bureaucrats. People that actually understand the business and can consciously run those businesses in ways that will create more value.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: Recently, we've begun to see some pretty forceful pushback against the ESG movement, but it remains extremely powerful. In August, attorneys generals in 19 states took on investment giant BlackRock and its CEO Larry Fink, saying they're breaking multiple laws by prioritizing ESG ideologies over getting the best returns on residents' investments and pension funds.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: We've also seen some pushback from groups like Strive Asset Management, founded by biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. In a recent interview with Morning Wire, Ramaswamy said BlackRock is opening the door to competitors who prioritize profit over ESG. But if those states get together and say that as a group, the thing that, no, no, no, we want you to do as an asset manager in investing our state's money is to exclusively focus on products and services and to maximize profits without these social and political agendas, then I think that's going to create much more of a positive change that opens up the opportunity for new competitors.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: Going back to Mackie, he says the outcome of whether ESG is just a passing craze or one with more broad permanence will depend on the level of pushback. He tells me he supports pushing back and encourages those organizations to be, quote, tenacious.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: Well, an interesting perspective from a groundbreaking business leader. Carrie, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thank you.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Carrie Sheffield, fellow with the State Financial Officers Foundation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Other stories we're tracking this week. Movie star Matthew McConaughey, who has flirted with the gubernatorial run in his native state, Texas, told attendees at San Francisco's Dreamforce conference this week that he would be, quote, arrogant not to consider a White House run in the future.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A new proposal by regulators in California would prohibit the sale of new diesel trucks by 2040 and require certain trucks entering ports and rail yards to be zero emissions by 2035.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and you stand with our mission, consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more news you need to know. I'll see you next time.
