CASPER – Senate President Eli Bebout said that one of his top priorities during the upcoming legislative session will be addressing opioid abuse, a pressing national issue that has gotten little attention within Wyoming.
While several Midwestern states have been dealing with a severe opioid epidemic, there is little evidence that Wyoming is facing a similar problem.
“We’ve really got to get on the leading edge,” Bebout said. “I don’t want to wait.”
Painkiller prescriptions in the state remain far lower than most states in the country, according to the National Prescription Audit.
But Bebout, a Riverton-based Republican, said in a recent interview with the Star-Tribune that he had observed the havoc wreaked by opioid abuse in other states and wants Wyoming to avoid the same fate.

He is hoping to pass legislation creating a taskforce to address the issue during the Legislature’s upcoming budget session in February. That task force could suggest new laws or ways for the state to combat the issue before the 2019 session, Bebout said, though he is also open to taking more tangible actions when the Legislature meets this year.
“Who knows,” Bebout said. “There might be some good ideas out there that we could move forward more specifically.”
A draft bill that would limit doctors’ ability to prescribe opioids in the state received criticism in the fall for being overly restrictive.
Casper physician Anne MacGuire, a member of the state Board of Medicine, said the bill was not necessary because Wyoming did not have a problem with prescribing too many painkillers.
“Wyoming does not have a narcotic problem,” MacGuire said in an October interview.
Rep. Jim Byrd, D-Cheyenne, the bill’s sponsor, did not respond to multiple requests for comment regarding why the measure was necessary.
Bebout said his interest in the issue was sparked by attending a session at a Senate Presidents’ Forum event.
“If we save one life or have one person put back into a productive life and the workforce we’ve done our jobs,” he said.
The Legislature’s February session is likely to be dominated by the state’s roughly $700 million budget shortfall for the coming two-year finance cycle. Much of that shortfall comes from the state’s education funds, which have been battered by a drop in tax revenue due to the energy bust.