With fentanyl disguised as other drugs more prevalent than ever, taking just one pill without a prescription can be deadly — a reality all too familiar to one New York family who lost their daughter in 2022.
Paige Gibbons, a 19-year-old freshman at Hobart and William Smith College who dreamed of becoming a doctor, thought she was taking Percocet with friends on November 20 of that year.
“She was staying with a friend and her parents were home, and she and her friend were about to take Percocet, and she thought it was Percocet,” said her father, David Gibbons, of Pittsford, N.Y. “What her parents didn’t know was that it wasn’t Percocet, it was 100 percent fentanyl.”
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Paige Gibbons, 19, of Pittsford, New York, died on November 20, 2022 from a fentanyl overdose. (offered )
At 1:05 p.m. that day, David and his wife, Kate, had their lives changed forever when a sheriff’s deputy knocked on their door and told them their daughter had overdosed.
“It was the loudest scream I’ve ever heard in my life. I wondered what she was screaming about and it was an intruder or something,” David said of his wife’s reaction to the unbelievable news.
Paige was with two friends at the time of her overdose, one of whom had purchased the drugs on social media.
In an interview with New York’s Office of Addiction and Substance Abuse Services and Advice (OASAS), David said one friend nearly died, while another, who chose not to take drugs, “witnessed one of the worst events a teenager can witness in their life,” he said.
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Ms Gibbons’ parents, David and Kate, are sharing their story to raise awareness that even a single over-the-counter pill can be laced with deadly fentanyl. (offered)
“She probably trusted a friend, or a friend trusted someone they knew,” Paige’s mother, Kate, said. “We thought she was a little naive in that regard. Unfortunately, it cost her her life.”
Paige’s death came as a complete surprise to her parents, who never suspected her of being a troublemaker or a drug user, a belief later borne out by conversations with her friends.
“This one mistake was obviously the worst mistake of Paige’s life,” David said. “We don’t want her to be blamed for the worst mistake she’s ever made.”
“Our lives have been thrown into chaos,” David said. “The milestones I’ve hoped for — the birth of my first grandchild, attending a wedding, graduating from college, helping others — will never be realized for Paige.”
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David and Kate Gibbons said their daughter was not a regular drug user, but that one pill they thought was Percocet took her life. (offered)
Paige’s parents said she wanted to be a doctor and “had lofty goals to do something good in the world.”
Though she died young, she made a huge impact at Our Lady of Mercy High School in Rochester, New York, where she taught her classmates CPR for women. Her parents recall that her school only had male mannequins, so she used her own money to buy female models for her classmates to practice on.
Now that Paige’s hopes have been dashed, her parents said they are sharing her story in the hope that it can help others in the wake of her passing, and to spare other families the heartache they have endured.
“If you take the pills, you could die that night.”
Their story is one of several featured in “Addiction: The Next Steps,” a 30-minute film produced by OASAS to educate New York residents about the growing problem.
“I can’t believe that there are still people out there going through this exact situation,” Kate said. “I want to shout this from the mountain tops, let people know: be prepared for this to happen to you. Be prepared to die if you try this.”
“When you’re deciding whether to take a pill or whatever medicine someone gives you, think about this: Do you want to see the look on your mother’s face mourning you?”
“We don’t discriminate,” David says, “regardless of socio-economic, race or religion. If you take a pill, you could die that night.”
Fentanyl is more than 50 times more potent than heroin, and 6,300 people will die from fentanyl overdoses in New York in 2023. These overdoses have been steadily increasing, with 74,702 Americans expected to die from fentanyl overdoses in 2023, an increase of about 500 from the previous year, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
The DEA seized a record 79.5 million fentanyl pills in 2023, a huge increase over the 58 million pills seized in 2022. The agency said lab tests showed that seven in 10 pills seized by the agency contained lethal amounts of fentanyl.
Opioids aren’t the only pills that can contain fentanyl: High school and college students who purchase “study pills” like Adderall on the dark web or on social media are also falling victim to the substance, according to the DEA.
OASAS coordinator Dr. Chinazo Cunningham said while there are fewer teens abusing drugs than ever before, more teens are dying from overdoses due to fentanyl’s lethality and prevalence.
“We know that with the internet and social media, kids can get what they think are real drugs, but no one knows where it’s made, where it comes from or what’s in it,” she said. “Fentanyl is being laced into these pills, and it can be deadly.”
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She also said the drug has led to an increase in teen deaths from overdoses of xylazine, also known as “Tranqui.”
Fentanyl and xylazine testing strips, as well as naloxone, a life-saving medication that reverses opioid overdoses, are available free of charge to New Yorkers at oasas.ny.gov. Other states, including Ohio and California, are also working to provide free testing strips and naloxone to their residents.
