Women Recount Close Call After Unknowingly Smoking Opioid
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Two women are grateful to have a second chance at life after nearly dying from an overdose.
Nikkita Page, 18, and Stephanie Case-Allan, 20, say that doctors told them they were virtually dead after smoking what they believed was marijuana with a group of men near a bus stop Saturday night.
Brooklyn Center police said they believe the women were unknowingly given an opioid.
"We were trying to get ready to leave, but, as soon as we hit it, we started tweaking and hallucinating," Page said of the moment the women smoked what they believed was marijuana.
The two friends said they thought they were meeting two men to go on a double date, but five men showed up to the Brooklyn Center Transit Center Saturday around 9 a.m.
Page and Case-Allan said the group of men kept asking to smoke marijuana with them.
"They kept asking us over and over," Page said.
With some reluctance, the women said they agreed to smoke what they were given.
"All I remember was hitting it and waking up in the ambulance," Case-Allan said.
"She was on the ground and I tried to reach for her," Page said. "Next thing I know, I black out."
Police said the group of men took off.
Officers arrived and gave each of the women CPR and Narcan, a drug many law enforcement agencies carry to block the effects of opioid overdose.
Now out of the hospital, both women hope no one else will make the same mistake they made by accepting the drugs.
"I already felt that death experience, and it was scary," Page said "I don't want to go through it again, I actually want to live my life happily and to the fullest."
The women said they each have two jobs this summer and plan to stay away from all illegal drugs.
Brooklyn Center police are reviewing surveillance video from the area.
Brooklyn Center police want to remind people that per state law, someone who is with a person who appears to be overdosing can call police without getting into trouble.
The priority is saving lives.