An October 11 protest against involuntary care for drug addiction was one of many ways Prince George advocates spokes up on issues surrounding drug overdose and addressing the toxic drug crisis

By Tommy Osborne

2024 advocacy

2024 an incredibly sad year for many, says Prince George drug advocate

Dec 27, 2024 | 2:11 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – 2024 saw a lot of advocacy in Prince George, with community members of many backgrounds standing up to make their voices heard. Unfortunately, one of the most persistent topics of the year was drug overdoses, as Prince George saw 99 people die due to drug overdose, up from 92 in 2023. The 2024 numbers only go up to November, meaning that number may rise even more.

“This year has been incredibly sad in a lot of ways. We do a lot of grief work in Prince George with over 500 parents that have lost someone to the toxic drug supply,” said community advocate Michelle Miller, who is also part of the group Moms Stop the Harm.

Prince George saw an increase in deaths, but provincially 2024 was better than 2023, as the January-November timeframe of 2024 saw 1925 deaths provincially, down from 2107 in 2023. While a decrease is definitely welcome news, that’s still thousands of families who are impacted, a number that Miller and many other advocates say is way too high.

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“We need to start educating the public. We need to join forces with the RCMP and and our MPs and MLAs. Come up with some strategies,” Miller said.

One strategy Premier David Eby pledged is involuntary care, which shocked many as he previously was against involuntary care and stood for voluntary care. This change was not only shocking to Miller, but also very disappointing, as she believes involuntary care only causes more harm than good.

“We advocated for free voluntary care versus involuntary care, which hit home for me really hard because I forced my child into care, and I don’t see that as an upward movement by our government. We need to open up facilities that provide free voluntary care first,” she said.

Among the voluntary care facilities, Miller believes there is a lot more that could be done, such as education, mental health supports, detoxing treatments, and more. Perhaps the biggest one could also be what some may say is the most obvious solution, which would be fighting against the source of the drugs itself.

“(We have to be) working with the RCMP to make the community safer against transnational criminals who are flooding our cities, our home town, with fentanyl and analogs and veterinary tranquilizers and fake pills,” Miller said.

Even though the province saw fewer overdose deaths this year than 2023, the increase in Prince George is certainly grim news for the community, and Miller hopes a lot more is done in 2025 to address the toxic drug crisis and severely lower the amount of love ones lost.

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