A Nova Scotia mother is speaking out about the dangers of prescription drugs a year after the death of her 15-year-old daughter.

Dale Jollota says the nightmare began one morning in April 2012, when she went to wake her daughter Olivia up before school.

“She was sitting on her bed and she was leaned over with her forehead on her comforter,” describes Jollota. “I was frantic and I was screaming that she was dead, just over and over and over again.”

When Olivia didn’t respond, Dale called 911. Police also responded to her home in Dartmouth.

“He came back up a couple minutes later and I just knew from the look on his face and all he said was ‘I’m so sorry.’”

Jollota later learned that Olivia and a friend had inhaled half the contents of two hydromorphone capsules, or dilaudid.

An autopsy confirmed Olivia – a Grade 9 honours student – had died from accidental hydromorphone intoxication.

“I don’t want people to think poorly of her. She was a great kid. She made a mistake.”

Police are investigating Olivia’s death; Jollota says they know the pills were purchased, but they don’t know who sold them.

She hopes that by sharing her daughter’s story, she can create awareness and change.

“The prescribing of the medication needs to be stricter. The monitoring of those who prescribe them needs to be stricter.”

Nova Scotia’s Health and Wellness Minister says the province has expanded its prescription drug monitoring program.

“By expanding that program, we’ve allowed them to make better decisions around filling prescriptions, for example,” says Dave Wilson.

He is also optimistic about a new national strategy developed to tackle the issue.

“I’m confident that we’re going in the right direction,” he says.

Jollota says part of moving in the right direction is teaching students as young as Grade 7 about the dangers of prescription drugs, and encouraging parents to lock up their medications.

“Kids need to know what’s out there. They need to know that one pill can kill you.”

Liberal MLA Leo Glavine, who knows other young people who have died from prescription drugs, says he supports the idea.

“I would absolutely want to see something start this September so that our students and our children know exactly just how deadly one pill can be,” says Glavine.

“The actual prescription drug and the misuse of the prescriptions and the deadly outcomes of misuse, that is in the curriculum,” says Nova Scotia Education Minister Ramona Jennex. “But we’re updating it to add more of the current drugs that are on the street right now.”

The curriculum starts in Grade 9, which the education department says is based on best practice advice.

Following her daughter’s death, Jollota knew she had to champion the cause.

“I always knew she was going to do something important with her life. She still will. It’s just going to be in a different way.”

With files from CTV Atlantic's Jacqueline Foster