Recently, the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports shared an interview on social media, recounting the tragic story of a female college student whose life was taken by fentanyl a year and a half ago. The girl’s parents stepped forward to share their daughter’s story in the hopes of saving more lives.
According to the video interview by the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS), Paige Gibbons, a 19-year-old girl from Pittsford, New York, living her dream as a freshman at Hobart and William Smith College with aspirations of becoming a doctor, tragically lost her young life on November 20, 2022, after unknowingly ingesting a Percocet pill at a friend’s house, thinking it was an opioid, only to discover it was 100% fentanyl.
Paige’s father, David Gibbons, recalled in the OASAS interview that hours later, a police officer knocked on their door to inform them of their daughter’s death due to a drug overdose, leading his wife to scream in distress. “It was the loudest scream I’ve ever heard in my life,” David reminisced. “I thought someone was breaking in, why else would she be screaming like that?”
Paige had taken the drug with two friends, purchasing it online; one friend almost lost their life as well, while the other friend ultimately chose not to ingest it. “She trusted her friends or her friends trusted the people they knew,” Paige’s mother, Kate, said. “We think she was a bit naive in this regard. Unfortunately, it cost her life.”
Paige’s parents emphasized that their daughter did not regularly use drugs, a sentiment echoed by Paige’s friends, but one mistake cost Paige her life.
Now, Paige’s parents want to use the terrifying story of what happened to their family as a warning to others. “I can’t believe we still hear of people encountering the same situation,” Kate said. “I want to scream from the mountaintops for everyone to hear: If you try it (drugs) again, this is what will happen to you, you will die.”
“It doesn’t matter who you are,” David added. “Regardless of your socioeconomic status, race, religion, if you take a pill, that night you might die.”
Paige’s story is one of several featured in the OASAS educational film “Addiction: The Next Step,” which delves into the rampant fentanyl situation in New York State.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around 6,300 New Yorkers died from fentanyl overdoses in 2023, with nearly 75,000 deaths nationwide.
Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin and even a minute amount can be fatal. Despite its dangers, fentanyl appears to be growing in popularity, with law enforcement seizing a record nearly 80 million fentanyl pills in 2023, an increase of 20 million from the previous year.
Authorities have repeatedly warned that most of America’s fentanyl originates from China.