A teen with dreams of being a doctor died from taking one pill that turned out to be 100 per cent fentanyl, with another of her friend's almost dying from taking the same substance

One New York 19-year-old medicine student took what she thought was a Percocet before dying of a fentanyl overdose.

New York teen Paige Gibbons attended Hobart and William Smith Colleges when she and a friend took what they were told to be a Percocet pill in 2022, however, tragically it turned out to be a deadly dose of 100 per cent fentanyl.

Paige’s father, David Gibbons said in an interview with New York’s Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS): “She was at a friend’s house, the parents were home, she and her friend were going to take a Percocet, which she thought was a Percocet. Unbeknownst to them, it was not a Percocet — it was 100% fentanyl.

Paige, who according to her friends and family was not a frequent drug user was with two friends when she took the pill which had been purchased over social media, with one friend nearly dying and deciding not to take it altogether.

Paige’s Dad said: “It doesn’t discriminate. Socioeconomically, race, religion. You take a pill, and you have a potential of dying that night.” 6,300 New Yorkers died of fentanyl overdoses in 2023, and 74,702 died nationally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

When police informed David’s wife of their daughter’s death, he said his wife wailed so loudly he thought there was an intruder in the house. He said: “It was the loudest yell I’d heard in my life. I thought it was an intruder or something, because why was she screaming?”

Paige’s mother, Kate, said: “She trusted, maybe, her friend or her friend trusted somebody that they knew. We just thought of her as a little naive in that respect. Unfortunately, it cost her her life.

“I can’t believe that we still hear people, you know, having this same exact situation. I want to shout it from the mountaintops and make sure that everyone knows: Expect that it will happen to you; expect that you will die if you try this.”

David said: “One mistake was obviously Paige’s worst mistake in her whole life.We don’t want her to be judged for the worst mistake she made.”

Paige, who graduated from Our Lady of Mercy High School in Rochester, had planned to become a doctor. Paige’s story will air in an OASAS educational film titled “Addiction: The Next Step” exploring the Empire State’s rampant fentanyl epidemic.

Fentanyl, an opioid can be fatal even in trace amounts, and is 50 times more powerful than heroin. The Drug Enforcement Agency set a record in 2023 seizing 79.5 million fentanyl pills with more than 20 million more pills than the total amount seized in 2022. Laboratory testing showed seven in ten pills seized by the agency contained a lethal dose of fentanyl, according to the DEA.

The DEA said high school and college students looking to purchase “study drugs” risk being exposed to fentanyl. Dr. Chinazo Cunningham, the coordinator of OASAS said despite fewer teens than ever abusing drugs teen overdoses are on the rise due to the deadly effects of fentanyl.

Dr. Cunningham said: “We know with the internet and social media that kids can get what they think are real pills, but who knows where they’re made or where they’re coming from and what’s in them? Fentanyl is finding its way into these pills and that can be deadly.”