Substance abuse conference will be held at Lexington Marriott Jan. 18-19; attendance will be limited to the first 250 registrants

Seeking to build collaborations and partnerships to help deal with prescription drug abuse, a conference called "The Different Faces of Substance Abuse" will be held Jan. 18-19 at the Marriott Griffin Gate Resort in Lexington.

The featured speaker Jan. 19 will be Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who will lead a discussion about the fight against pill mills. Participants can also attend two of eight breakout sessions that day:

• Overcoming addiction and obstacles to treatment

• Take-back program

• Creating a local drug-free alliance

• UK Cooperative Extension Service substance abuse prevention programs

• Creating a youth program

• The law-enforcement perspective

• A regional initiative aimed at reducing and preventing prescription drug abuse in youth

• Unique characteristics of prescription drug abuse and ways to target them

Registration starts at 10 a.m. Jan. 18. Presentations begin at noon. The first day's speakers include Demetria Antimisaris, assistant professor in the University of Louisville School of Medicine; Dave Hopkins, program manager for the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting (KASPER) in the Office of the Inspector General; Van Ingram, executive director for the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, and Jared Combs, pharmacist clinical staff at UK HealthCare.

The conference is sponsored by the University of Kentucky's colleges of agriculture, social work and pharmacy; the Lexington Mayor's Alliance on Substance Abuse, the Fayette County Kentucky Agency for Substance Abuse Policy, the Kentucky Division of Behavioral Health and the Ohio County Assets for Youth.

Space is limited to the first 250 registrants. To register, click here. Cost is $100 plus hotel fees. For more information, click here.