Prescription Takeback Day, hosted in front of City Hall on Thursday, Aug. 28, saw hundreds of crisis support workers, front-line healthcare professionals and members of the public connect to raise awareness about the toxic drug crisis and to safely dispose of prescription medications.
This event was hosted in conjunction with Positive Living North, The City of Prince George Moms Stop the Harm, Broken Hearts of Fentanyl and Prince George-Valemount MLA Rosalyn Bird.
Tents and booths with information on drug prevention and safety filled the front lawn of City Hall, with a memorial of purple crosses decorating the Cenotaph, memorializing those who lost their lives.
Booths included Northern Health, which helped provide the prescription take-back services, Carrier Sekani Family Services, which hosted a barbecue, and Positive Living North, which sold raffle tickets and offered both information on addiction and providing healing in both traditional and modern ways.
Attendees also heard from those who had suffered from drug addiction themselves, who shared their lived experiences with those participating.
Northern Health representatives told reporters on scene that more than 100 bottles of pills had been collected in the first hours of the event.
These ranged from veterinary pills for animals to cough syrup with codeine in it and everything in between.
Mayor Simon Yu who spoke at the event, noted the importance of the effects the toxic drug crisis has on everyone, regardless of their circumstances.
“This is a moment of reflection," he said. "We, as a city, every year now for the last few years we on this day, pause and reflect. We try to get together to reduce the stigma through inclusion education. This is a tremendous problem that we're facing together as a community as a people. Every walk of life is affected. It does discriminate. It doesn't really matter if you're an immigrant or the colour of your skin, or your religion. All of us, our children, all of us can fall victim to this dreaded fentanyl crisis we're facing."
Lheidli T'enneh Chief Dolleen Logan, who spoke of the loss of her niece to the toxic drug crisis, talked to The Citizen about the impact she's seen in her community.
“It's a slow process, but we're working on it. We just had our annual general meeting this weekend and we honoured and celebrated everybody who's in sobriety," she said. "We had one individual who's up to 120 days, and there's one who stood up and said he is 50 years clean. It gives the ones who are addicted know that they're not alone in doing this and they have members to turn to, to help get them through. It makes a difference when you know there's somebody you can talk to that's not family but still from the community. We're all in this together."
Prince George-Valemount MLA Rosalyn Bird, one of the originators of this event, said she was shocked to learn that there were no prescription takeback events hosted anywhere in the province.
“Most people in our community are very frustrated with the challenges that we have around mental health and addictions,” said Bird. “People want solutions and they want to know what they can do to participate to try and reduce the crisis. This is one small grassroots initiative that allows people to do that.
“This is not my initiative, just to be very clear, I stole it from the United States. The Department of Drug Enforcement down there has an annual campaign and it is national. Just to give you some example of how successful that campaign has been, in April of 2025, they collected more than 620 pounds of medication. That's in a single day. Since 2016, they have collected more than 20 million tons of medications. When you think about what that means, not just for community safety, what that means for our environment, it's not being flushed down the toilet, it's not landing up in landfills, it's not poisoning wildlife. So all of those pieces are extremely important.”
She added that she wants to see this event evolve in the future and turn into something bigger in the hopes of positively impacting the toxic drug crisis in the community.
“This gives people in the community an option to participate in a solution,” said Bird. “I'm actually hoping that this will be a province-wide initiative and my long-term goal is to have this move across the country.
“I actually put a motion on the floor prior to the end of last session, asking that International Overdose Awareness Day actually be partnered with Prescription Drug Take Back Day. That initiative and idea did actually come from the initiative down in the States. But when you're looking at statistics like that, I can't think of a single argument why we would not initiate something like that.”
Bird was also touched by the lived experiences of those suffering from the toxic drug crisis in the community and said it highlighted the importance of events like this.
“It's extremely important for people to hear those stories for lots of reasons,” said Bird. “I don't think anybody gets up in the morning and makes a decision that they are going to have mental health or addiction or be unhoused and want those challenges. Nobody makes those choices consciously.
“As a community, we need to be aware that we have to be empathetic and compassionate to folks who have landed themselves in situations that are very challenging to get out of. Finding ways as a community to support and to do things that can help reduce those challenges, it's a win-win.”
Moms Stop the Harm, Broken Hearts of Fentanyl, one of the organizations that has been a strong advocate for reducing stigma and advocating for change in Prince George, has seen firsthand how this crisis has severely impacted the lives of families across Prince George.
Michelle Miller, a key member of Moms Stop the Harm, Broken Hearts of Fentanyl, spoke on the incredible turnout for the event.
“The support is incredible," she said. "I'm really proud of Prince George for stepping up and coming together today.”
Miller has personally been deeply affected by this crisis, as she lost her son to drugs. She spoke to the media about the importance of removing prescription medication from medicine cabinets across the province.
“It's really important that people clean out their medicine cabinets,” said Millier. And to keep their medications locked up and in a safe area so your kids aren't getting into it. I know my son, two years after he passed, my kids came to me and said, 'Hey Mom, you know, Tanner used to take your prescription medications out of your ensuite and he was using them to get high or for anti-anxiety.' We're going to do this annually because it's important for people to clean these out. It happened to me; it can happen to you.”
