Lawmaker Introduces Bill Package to Address Fentanyl Crisis

7/21/2025

The Fundners were a tight-knit family of six who were involved in their church, school and community in their Southern California town. But Fentanyl doesn’t discriminate. They learned that on Feb. 27, 2022, when her husband found their 15-year-old son Weston lifeless in his bedroom. They later learned that he took the pill an acquaintance had shared.

It’s a job no one wants, but Fundner took her loss and pain to now advocate for tougher laws. She spoke at the Republican National Convention in July 2024, where she squarely laid blame for Weston’s death on the Biden-Harris-Newsom open borders and soft-on-crime policies, which has allowed Fentanyl from China to flood the country through Mexican drug cartels.

“As a mom of three, hearing Anne’s story shattered me. They were the kind of parents we all strive to be—present, engaged, doing everything right. Yet, one counterfeit pill stole their son’s life. It’s a reminder that this crisis can touch any family, anywhere,” Fantasia (R-Sussex) said.

Fantasia connected with Fundner, who relocated to Monmouth County from California, earlier this year to push for tougher penalties for fentanyl-related incidences. The collaboration led to a six-piece package recently introduced by the assemblywoman:

- Establishes grant program for school districts to establish substance abuse prevention programs for eighth grade students (A5833).

- Allows juvenile to be tried as adult regardless of age for certain drug offenses resulting in death and imposes life imprisonment for conviction of strict liability for drug induced deaths if victim was under age 18 (A5941).

- "Weston's Law," which extends crime of human trafficking to include recruiting or coercing juvenile to join gang or drug trafficking scheme (A5961).

-  Provides criminal and civil penalties for predatory marketing of fentanyl to minors (A5962).

- Urges Congress to enact H.R.128 directing treatment of illicit fentanyl as weapon of mass destruction (ACR167).

- Urges Congress to enact the HALT Fentanyl Act (ACR168).

“Not one more child should die because our government refuses to protect its citizens,” Fantasia said. “Weston, Anne, and tens of thousands of other families were failed by leaders who didn’t enforce our laws and refused to modernize them to meet the growing threat of fentanyl. That failure cost lives, and it cannot continue.”

Fentanyl is a lab-manufactured synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than morphine. Used in medical settings, it’s a Schedule II controlled substance used in anesthesia or as pain management in severe cases under a doctor’s care. Illicitly, the drug’s raw materials are shipped from China or India and synthesized by drug cartels in Mexico, pressed into pills that resemble other medications, or mixed with other drugs such as heroin or methamphetamines to heighten their potency.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, of the 110,000 drug overdose deaths reported in 2022, more than 73,000 of those involved synthetic opioids.

The Fundners believe Weston thought he was ingesting Percocet or Xanax, two popular drugs with teens: Percocet, for its euphoric effects, or Xanax, for its sedation. Instead, he took a counterfeit laced with fentanyl.

“My son made one tragic mistake and he didn’t get to learn from his mistake. He died. Fentanyl does not allow children to learn from their mistakes anymore. The people providing this to children stalking them and convincing them to try. It is no different than sexual predators. They know what they’re doing and they know what they’re selling is lethal but they don’t care because they are just interested in making money,” Fundner said. “This is criminal. This is murder and these people need to be held accountable for their actions.”

“If we change the laws, we can change the stories,” Fantasia said. “I won’t let Weston’s death and Anne’s advocacy be in vain.”

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