COLUMBUS, Ohio — The 30th Annual Addiction Studies Institute Conference begins Friday at the Ohio State University.

The two-day event is the largest conference of its kind in the Midwest to arm community members in every field with resources to help people battling chemical dependency. 

Dr. Brad Lander, a psychologist at Ohio State, is one of the guest speakers.

“What I'm talking about is how when you come in contact with something, like you know, a crack pipe or somebody offers you a beer or something like that,” he said. “What actually happens to you that drives the compulsion to then drink or to use?”

With 37 years spent researching and treating addiction, Lander has seen the evolution of treatment options.

“I’ll be honest, we really didn't know what we're doing back then, but because medicine and genetics and so on has gotten behind it, we understand addiction so much more than we have before,” he said. “And that treatment is really radically different from what it used to be.”

He encouraged anyone to attend because of how far-reaching the issue spreads.

“It touches everybody and then for everybody that has a substance abuse problem, it touches at least 10 other people,” Lander said.

For anyone who is touched by addiction in any capacity, whether it's the person themselves or a family member or friend, Lander wants them to know there is hope and to remember an age-old saying: if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

“Treatment today is about healing the brain,” he said. “People think this is a behavioral problem. Behavior is some problem within the brain, and we need to heal the brain. It's really important to treat a person as a whole instead of just like one little piece of the puzzle.”

He said anyone is welcome to register and you can do so until Friday morning, the day the conference begins. 

The conference continues Saturday and will be virtual for the first time.

Click here for the cost information.

Click here to register.