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CNN This Morning

U.S. Diplomatic Staff, Families Evacuated, Embassy In Sudan Closed; Explosions And Fighting In Khartoum Despite 72-Hour Ceasefire; Some Democrats Push Biden To Talk With McCarthy On Debt Ceiling; Former Vice President Mike Pence Says Abortion Pill "Should Be Banned"; House Intelligence Committee Probing CIA Handling Of Sexual Assault Cases. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired April 23, 2023 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[06:00:34]

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. I'm Amara Walker.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Thank you for sharing your morning with us, the back half of the weekend, easy start to the Sunday.

WALKER: Your smile is so big this morning.

BLACKWELL: I'm feeling good. I'm feeling good. Here's what we're watching for you this morning. Special operation forces evacuated American personnel from the U.S. embassy during heavy fighting and clashes in Sudan. Now, U.S. officials are trying to figure out ways to help private American citizens as the crisis intensifies. A team of CNN reporters will have the latest.

WALKER: And the showdown takes shape in Washington. House Speaker McCarthy scrambles to unite his party on a debt ceiling plan. Can he get the votes to avoid a financial crisis? And will President Biden and McCarthy be able to see eye to eye before time runs out?

BLACKWELL: Plus, a wake-up call. A new study reveals an alarming number of teens admit to abusing ADHD medication. What's behind the rise and what you can do to protect your children.

American diplomats and their families are out of Sudan this morning after an evacuation from that war torn country. A Defense Department official says fewer than 100 people were pulled out of the country in what he called a fast and clean operation.

WALKER: Now, their exit comes after a week of heavy fighting between rival military factions, and that is despite what was meant to be a 72-hour truce. Now, the World Health Organization reported on Friday that 413 people have been killed and thousands injured since the fighting broke out. But, of course, information coming out of the country has been limited.

We have team coverage this morning. Larry Madowo and Kevin Liptak are standing by. But we want to start with Kylie Atwood, who is live from the State Department. Kylie, what more do we know about the evacuation of U.S. personnel from there?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, this is an evacuation that was carried out yesterday with U.S. government officials saying that they just really no longer could keep U.S. government personnel, all of those diplomats in the country because of that ongoing heavy fighting. And when we spoke with senior department officials from the State Department and the Department of Defense last night they described that there were about 100 people who are part of this evacuation. So, that includes U.S. diplomats, government personnel, their family members, and a few diplomats from other countries.

What they said that this operation was fast and clean. It was conducted in less than an hour. It was about 100 Special Forces that came in to conduct this operation, got these U.S. personnel onto evacuation flights, Department of Defense aircraft, and got them out of the country.

Now, one of the things that we need to think about is what's going to happen to this U.S. embassy in Khartoum. The secretary of state that said that operations there are going to be temporarily suspended. They do have local staff who are able to be at that embassy. But for now, there are no operations running out of there, and all the U.S. diplomats are out of the country.

BLACKWELL: So, let's talk about the private American citizens now. What are we hearing from the State Department as it relates to the numbers of people they believe might be there and any efforts to help get them out of the country?

ATWOOD: Well, listen, State Department officials said that U.S. citizens in the country should not foresee the U.S. government coordinating any sort of evacuation for those U.S. citizens right now, or their families who are still there in the country. They aren't thinking that they're going to do that anytime soon here right now.

But what they are saying is that they do want U.S. personnel, those citizens who are in the country, to be in touch with the State Department to provide them support. And what they can do is try and look at what is going on in the country and give them some advice as to which operations, which ways out of the country are going to be best at this time.

One of the things that they're thinking about doing is they have U.S. Navy presence at the Port of Sudan. They may be able to assist U.S. citizens who arrive at that port. We know according to the State Department there about 16,000 U.S. citizens who are in Sudan. But you have to consider the fact that many of those are going to be citizens of both Sudan and the United States. Many of those are not going to want to leave.

We know last week, at the end of the week, there were about 50 to 60 Americans who had reached out to the State Department for assistance to try and get out of the country because, of course, the main airport in that country is closed down.

BLACKWELL: Kylie Atwood at the State Department, thank you. Let's go to the White House now and Kevin Liptak.

[06:05:01]

Kevin, the president decided to pull U.S. personnel out of Sudan. What is the White House saying about the operation?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. The president monitoring the situation very closely from Camp David, where he is spending the weekend. Over the last several days, he had taken several steps to prepare for this eventuality, including prepositioning military assets and equipment in Djibouti. The American military has quite a large presence there.

He also worked alongside diplomats in Sudan to consolidate their presence to the diplomatic compound in Khartoum. That in itself was quite an extensive operation, of course, roads are very unsafe in the capital city. So it did take quite an effort to bring all of the diplomats, all of the government personnel into one place so that they could be evacuated.

But the president once those diplomats were out of Sudan did release a statement last night. He said, in part, "I am grateful for the unmatched skill of our service members who successfully brought them to safety. And I thank Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Saudi Arabia, which were critical to the success of our operation."

The president went on to say, "We are temporarily suspending operations at the U.S. embassy in Sudan, but our commitment to the Sudanese people and the future they want for themselves is unending."

Of course, looming over all of this is the specter of that chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. The president, his aides, the White House certainly didn't want to repeat some of the chaotic scenes that you saw there. And in fact, a couple of weeks ago, they said, one of the lessons that they learned from that experience was to begin evacuations sooner.

And so, you do see some of that playing out now, this effort to get resources in place, the diplomats together. And so, certainly the president this morning very pleased at what appears to be a successful operation overnight, Victor.

WALKER: All right. Kevin Liptak, thank you. Let's go now to CNN's Larry Madowo in Nairobi, Kenya, this morning. Larry, what are you learning about the current situation? And do we know if there was any kind of coordination with the military or the military faction there on the ground in regards to this evacuation of U.S. embassy personnel?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After this operation happened, Amara, the Rapid Support Forces, that is this powerful paramilitary group that's been involved in this conflict with the Sudanese army, claimed that they coordinated with U.S. forces to allow them to land into the country and carry out this operation. The State Department strongly denied that. It said that this operation was carried out by the Department of Defense and the Department of Defense alone.

Right now, several other nations are scrambling to try and get their citizens out of Sudan, and it's running to some hiccups. For instance, a meeting point that was being used by Turkey to gather citizens together had to be abandoned after explosions happened nearby. They told citizens not to go there because it was no longer safe.

The Swedish parliament just approved the use of military aircraft to pull out their citizens and diplomats out of Sudan. And Spain is saying it has at least two military planes near Sudan finding -- waiting for the right time for -- when it would be safe for them to fly into the country and pull out their citizens.

But for a lot of people who can't fly out of the country because the Khartoum airport, the main airport, is still contested. It was not clear to CNN who has control of it. It might be divided between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese armed forces.

Many people are joining convoys to go to the east of the country to Port Sudan. And some are risking to do -- to be able to do that. In fact, the U.S. embassy in Khartoum has told U.S. citizens not to do that. That if they join this convoy to Port Sudan they're doing it at their own risk. But if they do make it to Port Sudan the Saudis have been able to pull people using ships to Jeddah across the Red Sea, and that's where a lot of Saudi nationals from other parts of the Gulf and indeed even Canadians -- Burkina Faso citizens and other citizens have been able to leave Sudan through the Port of Sudan across the Red Sea into Saudi Arabia.

BLACKWELL: Larry, for the people who are waking up and seeing that U.S. personnel are being evacuated from the country, and now there are American civilians who want to leave and asking, how did we get here, what's the short answer?

MADOWO: The short answer for this, Victor, is that these tensions between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces have been building for awhile. A quick step back. Sudan has had two coups in recent times, back in April of 2019 when a popular uprising kicked out long time dictator Omar al-Bashir. And then in 2019, these two warring generals sort of agreed together to kick out the civilian government that replaced Omar al-Bashir.

So -- since 2021, October. Sudan has been under this military dictatorship. It is governed by what is called a sovereign council. The leader of the sovereign council, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, is also the leader of the military and the de facto leader of Sudan, but he is deputy.

[06:10:00]

The vice chair of the sovereign council and his rival is General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo or Hemedti. They are the two involved in this power struggle over who will ultimately control Sudan. And that is why you see this back and forth, this senseless violence that has so far killed more than 400 people, almost more than 3,500 people wounded because the two of them cannot agree over this one sticking point over a return to civilian transition.

They agree in the big picture that there should be a return to civilian rule in Sudan, but they can't agree over who will ultimately be in charge of these two fighting forces. And that is why this took place, Victor, Amara.

WALKER: Appreciate that. Larry Madowo, thank you. Joining me now is CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Good morning to you, Colonel. First off, talk to us about how difficult an operation like this was to pull off. Can you just walk us through the planning and also the execution of it? I mean, we heard from U.S. officials that this was fast and clean.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Amara. Good morning. This is one of the most intricate operations that the U.S. military performs. Basically, what you need to be able to do is you need to have a flight route that gets you into a hostile place like Khartoum and then be able to extract not only yourself but the people that you're coming to rescue.

So, this is a very difficult thing to do. It requires a lot of preplanning both from an aviation perspective as well as a -- from a tactical and on the ground perspective. The intelligence preparation of the battle spaces, we call it in the military, is very, very extensive for something like this. And as Larry was pointing out all the different factions that are involved in the Sudanese war or the Sudanese conflict right now, those factions have to be dealt with. And sometimes you need to bring foreign third country actors into the -- like countries like Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia to help with those kinds of things.

So, it becomes a very intricate dance. It requires great deal of planning that sometimes takes months.

BLACKWELL: Yes, history often remembers the extractions that do not go well or end with death as we saw most recently in Afghanistan with those 13 service members who were killed. But this one was, as they said, fast and clean, so we should highlight that as well.

As it relates to the American civilians who are still there do you believe that this is a tenable position for the U.S. to say there is no plan to create some mission or specific operation to get the American citizens out who want to leave Sudan?

LEIGHTON: Yes, that's a really difficult situation, Victor, for them and for anybody who's planning these kinds of operations. You know, one possibility, as mentioned previously, is an overland route that takes you from Khartoum to Port Sudan, the city on the Red Sea. That would be one thing to do, but it's a very dangerous and risky endeavor. And the State Department has told people who do this -- if they're going to do this, they're going to have to do this at their own risk. There is no protection.

A lot of factions are controlling different parts of the roadway there and it is not safe to travel. So these are the kinds of considerations it would be very hard to get up to 16,000 people in one location safely. And the risk is certainly high that something like a Kabul like situation could occur if it's not planned properly, and that is something that would be very, very difficult to do at this point in time.

WALKER: So then what -- Kylie raised this question about, you know, we don't know what happens next to the U.S. embassy. We knew that locals now will be the there, I guess, to kind of secure it as much as they can. But what does that mean then especially for the citizens who are still there who want to get out?

LEIGHTON: Yes. So, Amara, the -- for the most part it means that the consular services that you're normally expecting, you know, things like visas, passport reissuance, those kinds of things are completely stopped. They are not happening right now.

The local Sudanese staff can do a few things but they're mainly there, as you mentioned, for security purposes and to -- in essence to keep the lights on. And that is something that, you know, is done in anticipation of the U.S. coming back with the consular presence there. That is not going to happen in the near term until the Sudanese sort out their conflict between the RSF and the Sudanese army.

BLACKWELL: So, none of the ceasefires has held. They've all been broken. What is the primary U.S. concern here? Is it that it spills over the borders? Is it humanitarian crisis? Is it the oil reserves there? What is the major U.S. concern of this going on for some time?

LEIGHTON: Yes. So, for the most part, Victor, it's humanitarian concern right now. Although, there is an oil component to this, and the other component is the Russian presence.

[06:15:04]

Both Russia and China have a presence in Sudan. Russia, in particular, has been very active particularly through its proxy, the Wagner group. They have been very active in parts of Sudan, especially to obtain gold and to obtain oil. That is part of the engine that fuels their efforts in Ukraine.

So, this is a very tangled web. But the basic idea for the U.S. is that they want to keep Sudan as free as possible from Russian influence. We quite frankly have been very successful in that endeavor. And right now we're seeing two factions that have at times aligned themselves with the Russians, fighting it out right now. And the Russians are basically in the middle of all of this and they could win no matter who wins on the ground in Sudan.

WALKER: Yes. So, as I understand it, the Sudanese military has air power. But the RSF, the Rapid Support Forces, did not at least until the Wagner group got involved, apparently supplying the surface to air missiles according to our reporting, which the Wagner group obviously vehemently denies. I mean, how does that impact the fighting on the ground and also the potential escalation?

LEIGHTON: Yes. It's a really fluid and difficult situation. But you're absolutely right. The air power in Sudan is controlled by the Sudan military. However, that is not a substitute for boots on the ground, and I'm saying that as a former Air Force guy. Boots on the ground are key and the problem that the Sudanese military has is that they have morale issues, they have infighting that is going on with them, and they also have a situation where they're finding it very difficult in a very densely populated urban setting to actually complete their mission to keep their government in their hands.

BLACKWELL: Colonel Cedric Leighton, always appreciate the expertise, helping us understand this. Thanks so much.

Still to come, the first major test for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as House Republicans are expected to vote on the debt limit and spending cuts. Does he have the votes?

WALKER: Plus, a warning for Black women. New research shows they should start getting mammograms much earlier than others.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:21:26]

BLACKWELL: The latest on Capitol Hill now. Some Democrats are starting to get a little nervous over the debt limit fight. More Democrats are saying President Biden should sit down and negotiate with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The White House shot down his debt ceiling proposal.

Meanwhile, McCarthy is facing his first real challenge as speaker. He is struggling to lock in enough Republican votes to support his plan. He is planning for a vote on the bill this week.

Let's talk about it now with "Politico" White House reporter Daniel Lippman. Daniel, always good to see you. So, all right, $1.5 trillion increase in exchange for 4.5 trillion in spending cuts, does not appear to have the votes. It's mostly the moderates who are holding out, not sure, taking a look.

What is their top concern? Is it singular? What is it that they're waiting for or don't see in this package that would earn their support?

DANIEL LIPPMAN, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, POLITICO: Well, they're not going to tell you this, but they're really concerned politically because they're going to be on record if they vote for this, is voting for food stamp cuts, for green energy tax credits, which are broadly popular in -- among Americans, among their voters for a proposal that is not going to go anywhere in the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats.

And so, they think that McCarthy is beholden to his conservative base, which got him in there by, you know, the skin of his teeth and that this is not the proposal that they want. It's not like these moderate Republicans want to -- they are not in Biden's camp of wanting a total clean increase. They want some budget cuts, but they don't think that these are particularly wise politically or policy wise.

BLACKWELL: Got it. So, it's less about policy and more about preservation. OK. Got that.

Let's talk about the Democrats now. President Biden, his plan has been -- his policy on this has been a clean debt ceiling increase. We're not negotiating on it. There are more Democrats now who are concerned. Who say that at least there's a scale here, a spectrum, I should say. At least talk to him, if not. Some people are saying, just sit down and negotiate. Is this forcing the White House to question the tenability of their plan of no negotiations?

LIPPMAN: I think that was always the posture that can't hold forever, and they actually have been talking to McCarthy's office and his aides. You're not -- you don't see Biden talking to McCarthy's chief of staff. It's usually on the level that you're expected to. But the -- there is concern in the White House that they are going to hit the debt ceiling closer, you know, sooner rather than later. We're talking about June -- July because federal government tax revenue is not as strong this year because of a slowing economy or the growth is slowing.

And so I think moderate Democrats think, hey, you should at least try to negotiate with McCarthy even if it is to show that in the White House's view that he's not serious about making a deal. But this is all, you know, leverage to try to get what everyone expects to be some type of increase in the debt ceiling even if Democrats have to concede on some spending cuts.

BLACKWELL: Let's turn to the 2024 race now. Republican declared and potential candidates for the nomination in Iowa. The former Vice President Pence he was there. He remarked on the Supreme Court's ruling to block a Texas judge's decision on the mifepristone medication abortion pill.

[06:25:06]

Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Number one, I'm pro-life. I think the chemical abortions, the mail order abortions that the Biden administration has now allowed should be banned, and I would support that view. But I also hope the Supreme Court will make the FDA do its job, a job it did not do 20 years ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: We heard from Governor Asa Hutchinson, who's also running for president, that he defers to science on this. How much of a divide -- how broad is the divide within the potential and declared candidates on this decision?

LIPPMAN: Yes. I think there's a -- what's interesting I've found is that President Trump, who put in a Supreme Court the number -- the three members of the Supreme Court who are Trump appointees who got rid of Roe v. Wade last year, he is not exactly celebrating this decision right now, any of this -- any of this abortion policy. And so, Trump still thinks that he's going to be the general election candidate, and for that he needs to not be talking about these issues that much.

We don't even know what Trump is personally in terms of whether he's a pro-choice or pro-life. So far he has acted very pro-life. But this is not something that he thinks is popular with among the American people and he had, you know, some -- you know, it's interesting to watch him dance around this issue because Pence is clearly going for his evangelical base with his strident position on this policy.

BLACKWELL: One more here. And you with "Politico" were first to report this. The House Intelligence Committee now investigating the CIA's handling of sexual assault and harassment cases. What do we know about the catalyst for the investigations and just give us the framework?

LIPPMAN: Sure. So, the first female CIA employee went to the House Intelligence Committee in January, followed by several other victims in the last few months, saying that they were sexually assaulted while employees are still employees and that the CIA did not handle their cases, you know, justly and that they didn't get -- you know, they didn't punish the perpetrator. They were blocked from going to law enforcement.

And the lawyer for the first woman told me that his client has told him that as many as 54 women in the last 10 years at the CIA have said similar things in terms of they were sexually assaulted or harassed. And the CIA was not, you know, receptive to their allegations and, you know, making sure that they're safe. These people are protecting our country.

BLACKWELL: All right. We'll watch that investigation, of course. Daniel Lippman, thank you.

WALKER: Coming up, Canada is preparing to get involved if the FDA's approval of an abortion bill -- pill is overturned, but will it be legal?

[06:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: Seven miles of beaches in the Los Angeles area are closed today because of a massive sewage spill. About 250,000 gallons of sewage spilled into the Los Angeles river.

BLACKWELL: An equipment breakdown caused that spill. CNN National Correspondent Camila Bernal is in Long Beach.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It's unclear exactly when the beach will be open again. Officials say they're going to be testing the water and will let people know as soon as it's safe to get back in the water. But it is a beautiful day in Southern California. So many people out on the beach. A lot of them do not even know that the beach is closed. It is the lifeguard walking up and down the beach, telling people look, you should not be in the water. There's a number of signs that tell you that the beach is closed. But

some people just came here without knowing and maybe missed the sign. Officials saying it is not safe. And we've spoken to people who got in the water and we're told, hey, maybe you should get out of the water. Here's one of these California residents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The sooner we found out, we were kind of disgusted, but what can we do now but walk all the way to get to the cab and go home and take a shower.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: And the spill happened on Thursday, about 15 miles from where we are here in Long Beach. Officials were able to clean up that day, but it overflowed into the streets and eventually made it into the L.A. River. That river then dumps into the ocean. Officials, again, are saying they're going to continue to test the water. But for now, they're saying there's a lot of bacteria in there, so you just don't want to be in the water. Amara, Victor?

BLACKWELL: Camila Bernal for us, thank you very much.

Canada is ready to help American women get access to an abortion pill if the FDA's approval of the drug is overturned. And for now, women across the U.S. still have access to that commonly used drug mifepristone.

WALKER: On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that the drug should remain available as the appeals process plays out. But as CNN's Paula Newton reports, it is a fine line for Canada of how to help women without getting them in trouble legally.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Amara, Victor, you know, a really important point here is that this abortion debate in the United States is not taking place in a vacuum. Canada continues to take notice and, most interestingly, a government minister here, Karina Gould, went on the record earlier this week and saying that Canada would do its best to, in her words, help American women if abortion access through pharmaceuticals was no longer available in the United States.

Now, I'll get to kind of more detail on what she said, but I want to go through a statement that her spokesperson released to CNN. And this is again, Karina Gould, who is a minister in Justin Trudeau's cabinet. She says, "We stand in solidarity with American women standing up for their rights to access reproductive and sexual health care, including their access to abortion. We have discussed what Canada's support for American women in need might be, and those discussions are still ongoing."

[06:35:14]

Now, that means making those drugs available, perhaps by mail to women in the United States. The problem, and the minister herself pointed this out, is that you do not want to land American women in legal jeopardy as some states have been quite serious on trying to prosecute women who leave the state in order to receive abortions, and that may include trying to get abortion drugs through the mail.

I mean, I will say given what the Supreme Court is now ruled, this may not be an issue for a while, but Canada is definitely keeping an eye on this. And the Trudeau government is on the record many times at saying it is unequivocally pro-choice, and they say they intend to help American women if that access to these abortion drugs is restricted in any way. Victor. Amara?

BLACKWELL: Paula, thank you.

Still ahead, a new study shows that some teenagers are misusing prescription stimulants for ADHD. The study's lead author joins us to discuss next.

[06:40:00]

BLACKWELL: A new study suggests that Black women should start getting mammograms much earlier than other women. Right now, the American Cancer Society recommends that all women should start being screened for breast cancer by 50. But this new study moves that age to 42 for Black women. CNN's Jacqueline Howard explains why.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Amara and Victor, this new study makes the argument that breast cancer screening guidelines should not be a one size fits all policy. And we already know that Black women are 40 percent more likely to die from breast cancer compared with white Women, even though Black women have four-percent lower incidents of the disease.

And for this new study, an international research team analyzed data on more than 400,000 women in the U.S. who died of breast cancer between 2011 and 2020. That's how they determined that at age 42, Black women tend to have the same risk level for dying of breast cancer that other races and ethnic groups have in their 50's and early sixties.

But the chief patient officer at the American Cancer Society, he told me that they already recommend that all women start to consider mammogram screenings at age 40. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ARIF KAMAL, CHIEF PATIENT OFFICER, AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY: I think that conversation needs to happen from age 40 onwards. And so, you know, for my family members and for the patients I talked to, at 40, I try to find a compelling reason why not to do screening mammogram. But for most women, we don't find a reason not to do it, and we get them scheduled to get it done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD: Now, Victor and Amara, a potential downside to screening early as the risk of getting a false positive test result. That's when something is mistaken for cancer, leading to more tests and emotional stress. And this is more common in women who are younger and those with dense breast tissue. So, it's important to talk to your doctor about what's best for you. Amara and Victor?

WALKER: All right, Jacqueline Howard, thank you.

And concerning new study out this week shows one in four teenagers at some middle and high schools in the U.S. say they have misused prescription stimulants to treat ADHD. This misuse could include anything from getting high to using the drugs to stay up late to finish school work.

Joining us now is the lead author of this new study, Professor Sean Esteban McCabe. He's also the director of the Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking, and Health at the University of Michigan. Welcome to you, Professor McCabe. You say this is a major wake-up call. Walk us through what else you found in this study and what was most surprising to you?

SEAN ESTEBAN MCCABE, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF DRUGS, ALCOHOL, SMOKING, AND HEALTH, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: Sure. Well, thank you for having me. What we found in this national study was that the there was a wide range and prescription stimulant misuse across middle and high schools in the United States. We also found a very wide range and stimulant therapy for ADHD, so same medications used medically. And that range was from zero percent at some schools all the way up to over 25 percent at other schools. And that was really important to show that variation.

So, some schools, you know, we found that there were really no kids that were misusing and others where you know one in every four students were misusing these medications.

WALKER: That's a huge difference, zero percent in some schools versus up to 20 -- more than 25 percent and others. I mean, is there a comment denominator between those schools that have such a high rate of misuse of these ADHD drugs?

MCCABE: Yes, great question. So, what we found is that there were several school level and individual level factors that were associated. One of the biggest ones that I think is fairly exciting is that -- because it provides a target for what to do about this -- is we did find that at schools where there are higher rates of stimulant therapy for ADHD. So, in other words, higher rates of kids who were prescribed these stimulants, those were the schools that were most likely to have misuse.

And some people might look at that and think that how is that good news? I will just say that it gives us an opportunity to provide safer storage and take some steps to reduce misuse. And that doesn't just fall on schools, that also is the responsibility of parents to step up in these situations because some of the students in our sample where as young as eight grade, and we also had students that were in 12th grade. And if you think about those 12th graders, they're going to be leaving home very soon, and they're going to be responsible for their own medication. So, the folks here at the center where I worked, the DASH Center, were

really committed to trying to help people find the healthiest relationships they can have with these important stimulant medications. Because when they're prescribed and use -- yes, sure. Go ahead.

WALKER: Excuse me. Because we just -- we do have this graphic up right next to you. And I would like for you to speak to that regarding, you know, the description or the profile of the students who are misusing the ADHD drugs.

[06:45:38]

MCCABE: Sure, no problem. So, we do see that the students who attended schools that had higher proportions of white students had higher rates of misuse. Students who attended schools that had parents with higher educations, higher proportions, also had higher rates of misuse. And then again, probably the variable that provides the most opportunity for change here is the schools that had the highest rates of medical use of prescription stimulants.

And I will just say that the answer really isn't, you know, prevent students who really need these medications to be successful to not have those medications. The answer really is to come up with strategies that reduce misuse, but allow the students who need these important medications to use them to treat their ADHD.

WALKER: Of course, it's all about talking to your children, right, openly. So, what should that conversation sound like?

MCCABE: Yes, that's a good question. So, I mean, you'd be amazed how many students, when I talked to them, because you know, a lot of them are responsible for, you know, their medications in some situations, oftentimes parents are responsible for them too, I tell families to make sure that you treat the medications appropriately, that you're storing the medication.

Some of our other work has shown that, you know, over 80 percent of households don't have lockboxes to store these medications. So, that's really important for families. For students themselves, it's really important that students that have these prescriptions know what to say when somebody approaches them. We know that about a fourth of the students get approach to divert. So, it's just important that they are coached and they know what to say if a peer asked them.

WALKER; Professor Sean Esteban McCabe, I really appreciate the advice. Thank you very much.

And a programming note for you. Bill Weir meets the climate experts racing against time to build innovative solutions to protect the planet from the looming effects of the climate crisis. A new episode of the whole story with Anderson Cooper airs tonight at 8:00 on CNN.

BLACKWELL: Up next, a Hollywood ending in Wales. How the fifth-tier English soccer team owned by a pair of actors rose to the occasion to win its first title in 45 years. We'll show you how it all went down.

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BLACKWELL: The Lakers retook control of their series against the Grizzlies last night, and L.A. fans have, of course, LeBron James to thank for that.

WALKER: Coy Wire is here. So, one Memphis player even took a cheap shot at LeBron to slow him down. Did it work?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This is -- this is getting ugly. Memphis's Dillon Brooks, he called LeBron James old. I think we talked about that last weekend ahead their win last game. He said he likes to poke the bear. And so, you just knew LeBron James is going to come out in this game with a point to prove. And having a civilized chat a little bit, you can see here ahead of game three, it didn't last very long. Here we go. Enough of seeing me. We can show the highlight. There they are. They're having a nice little conversation. But that didn't last long. Watch Brooks as he takes the spat to a new level, a lower level, dropping LeBron with a low blow in the 30. He said he pokes the bear.

WALKER: Oh, my gosh. He did not.

WIRE: The L.A. crowd have been booing Brooks since pre game, but they were cheering when he was finally injected. And when LeBron responds with this, a reverse dunk. 38 years old, yes, please. LeBron had 25 points on the night L.A. takes it two-one series lead.

James Harden and the 76ers, they're the first team to reach around two, pulling off a sweep of the nets. And they didn't even need their MVP candidate Joel Embiid to do it. Total team effort led by Tobias Harris, 25 points, 12 rebounds, a 96-88 win. And this means Embiid now gets about a week's worth of rest for his sprained right knee. Philadelphia, they will play the winner of the Celtics-Hawk series next.

NHL playoffs, scary moment here in the third when Toronto's Ryan O'Reilly shoves Tampa's Brayden Point into the wall. No penalty called, but look at all the fist starting to fly here. Even two of the biggest stars in this game, Auston Matthews, Steven Stamkos, they're dropping their gloves and going at it. Ref has to jump on top of them to stop them. The Leafs would end up rising in overtime, rallying to take a two-one series lead.

Another loaded Sunday across the WBD family of networks. Two NHL playoff games on TNT, two more on TBS with NBA playoffs doubleheader on TNT tonight, Celtics-Hawks followed by Nuggets-Wolves.

Now, two years after Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought a struggling world soccer team and made it a T.V. show about -- T.V. show about it, they're leading this incredible turnaround. Spoiler alert for the show, season two of Welcome to Wrexham is going to have a happy ending. Wrexham AFC, they write a Ted Lasso-like story. Fans rushing the field celebrating after they're promoted up to the fourth tier of English football for the first time in 15 years.

Their Hollywood owners, look at them, crying afterwards. They know how much this means to the community.

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RYAN REYNOLDS, CO-OWNER, WREXHAM AFC: I'm not sure I can actually process what happened tonight. I'm still a little speechless. I know that the one thing that's running through my head over and over again, as people said at the beginning, why Wrexham, why Wrexham? This exactly why Wrexham. What's happening right now is why.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You put so much into this project. How does it -- how does it feel when it finally feels like it's paying off?

ROB MCELHENNEY, CO-OWNER, WREXHAM AFC: Well, I think we can hear how it feels to the town and that's what's most important to us. I think this is a moment of catharsis for them and celebration. And for us to be welcomed into their community and to be welcomed into this experience has been the honor of my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: They have injected lots of money, lots of love and energy into this team. And the team and the town, they're responding. Their goal is to make it to the premier league. His favorite bar there in the town is now a tourist spot. This is really cool to see what they're building there.

WALKER: 15 years is a long way.

WIRE: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Everything is working out. Coy, thank you very much.

WIRE: You got it.

WALKER: Thank, Coy.

BLACKWELL: Still to come, evacuations in Sudan. The U.S. pulls governor -- government personnel out of the country. Violence there is escalating. That's the latest on the operations.

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