1.1940052-881344037
FILE - In this Nov. 10, 2014, file photo, Mark Wahlberg arrives at the 2014 AFI Fest - "The Gambler," in Los Angeles. Wahlberg asked Massachusetts for a pardon for assaults he committed in 1988 when he was a teenager in Boston. Wahlberg’s application with the Massachusetts Parole Board said he isn’t the same person he was 26 years ago and his past convictions are still affecting his life. Judith Beals, a former Massachusetts prosecutor who secured a civil rights injunction against Wahlberg in 1986 after he hurled rocks and racial epithets at black schoolchildren, said Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015, in an interview with The Associated Press that the actor should not be pardoned, as he has requested, for the 1988 assaults. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File) Image Credit: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

Actor Mark Wahlberg’s foundation is hosting a conference this week aimed at keeping teenagers off addictive drugs.

More than 4,500 middle and high school-age students are expected at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell on Tuesday for the Massachusetts Youth Summit on Opioid Awareness. The Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation is presenting the event.

The conference will address the opioid abuse epidemic by promoting healthy choices and a drug-free lifestyle and educating students about the dangers of drug abuse.

It will feature a showing of the short movie If Only and a presentation by former Miami Marlins draft pick Jeff Allison, who will share his story of addiction and recovery.

Other guests include a federal drug enforcement agent, local rappers and former New England Patriots Troy Brown and Matt Light.