AUSTIN, Texas — Families who have lost loved ones due to fentanyl had been waiting for this day.
On Wednesday, Gov. Greg Abbott signed four bills into law, each aimed at combating the state's fentanyl crisis.
Last year, more than 2,000 Texans died from fentanyl-related deaths, and the drug is now the No. 1 killer of Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.
Abbott made passing bills to prevent fentanyl deaths a top priority this session.
"This is not a law today,” Abbott said. “This is a movement – a movement by parents who are affected in ways in which no parent should ever be affected.”
House Bill 6 allows prosecutors to charge someone who manufactures or distributes fentanyl with murder.
"Prosecute fentanyl deaths for what they are,” Abbott said. “That is murder and will be a murder in Texas."
It also requires fentanyl deaths to be classified as poisonings or toxicity on death certificates, instead of overdoses.
For Ginger Treanor, who lost her 31-year-old daughter, Brooke, to fentanyl two years ago, it’s personal.
"It's just heart-wrenching, you know, because it wasn't an overdose,” Treanor said. “Fentanyl is not heroin. Fentanyl is not another drug on the street. It is poison. It's pure poison."
House Bill 3144 makes October Fentanyl Poisoning Awareness Month. Senate Bill 867 brings Narcan to Texas colleges and universities.
House Bill 3908, or "Tucker's Law", is named after 19-year-old Tucker Roe, who lost his life to fentanyl in 2021.
"It's a law that is created to help protect other children from having to experience the struggle that Tucker did and ultimately prevent other parents from having to live in grief,” Roe's mother, Stephanie Turner, said.
Tucker's Law requires schools to educate students in grades 6-12 about fentanyl abuse prevention and drug poisoning. Turner started the Texas Against Fentanyl movement to push for these changes in education.
"While Tucker's Law was named in honor of my son, it isn't for my son,” Turner said. “It's for every living son and daughter."
While the new laws won't bring their loved ones back, these families hope they will spare other Texans the pain of losing a child.
HB 3908 and SB 867 are effective immediately. HB 6 and HB 3144 will go into effect on Sept. 1.