VINELAND — A concerned wife called Vineland police Thursday when she said her husband and another man began to throw up on themselves in the midst of a conversation in the parking lot of the Cosmopolitan Restaurant on Delsea Drive and then passed out.

Medical tests confirmed that at least one of the men had GHB in their system.

Officers drove to the restaurant and a woman, later identified as Suzanne Ortiz, waved them to the parking lot where her husband Angel Ortiz, 42, of Central Avenue in Hammonton, was sitting up on the ground against the side of an SUV, and a man identified as Kenneth Bishop was lying in the backseat. Both men were unconscious.

Both men were immediately taken to the South Jersey Healthcare-Regional Medical Center for treatment. When police moved Bishop they found a red steel tank underneath him, of the type commonly used to hold nitrous oxide.

Suzanna said Angel is a bouncer at the Cosmopolitan and that he never returned home the previous night, though he sent several text messages saying he would. He called in the morning, telling her to meet him at the Cosmopolitan so they could go to a bar in Philadelphia.

She arrived and found Bishop, who she had never met before, and Angel in the parking lot. While speaking, both men started vomiting on themselves and having "head drops" before they passed out, at which time Suzanne panicked and called police.

She said she did not see either man take any drugs, and did not know of any drug habits her husband may have.

At the RMC, staff said the men should be unconscious for a while but did not appear to have any life threatening conditions.

A nurse found three baggies of cocaine in Ortiz's pocket, and he was charged for possession of cocaine.

An officer spoke with Ortiz at the RMC two days later and informed him he was under arrest for the charge. Ortiz waived his Miranda rights and told his version of events.

He said he had been drinking at a bar in Atlantic City with some friends, when a man he knew only as Kenny from working at the Cosmopolitan, apparently Bishop, approached him and asked if he needed a ride back to Vineland. Ortiz accepted.

While driving to Vineland, Ortiz said Bishop asked if he would like his red Gatorade, which was already open. Ortiz accepted.

Bishop began laughing as Ortiz drank, and said he would tell Ortiz later why he was. Ortiz drank the entire bottle and said it did not taste funny. He said once they arrived in Vineland, he passed out and woke up in the hospital.

Hospital staff told Ortiz he had GHB in his system, and he speculated that Bishop had poisoned him with spiked Gatorade.

Ortiz said the previous day he had left the hospital and gone to Kenny's Harding Road residence to get his cell phone, and upon looking underneath of Ortiz's car seat found a three ounce bottle of clear liquid, which he still had and turned over to an officer to be tested.

When asked about the cocaine in his pocket, Ortiz began to cry and said he does not and never has done drugs and said someone must have set him up.

Bishop had already left the hospital when the officer arrived. Because it appeared Ortiz had been lying about the cocaine, Bishop did not receive any charges.

Ortiz was charged with possession of cocaine.

Neither man received charges for the nitrous oxide tank because it was empty and the filling device had been snapped off.