Wyoming cowboys open up about addiction and suicide

Shad Wilsey holding onto the reins of his horse during a bronco riding competition at the Tom Horn Days Cowboy Rendezvous rodeo as he rides past a sign for No More Empty Saddles in support of mental health in Bosler, Wyoming. Photos: Patrick T. Fallon /AFP

Jonn Beer's ashes rise in a cloud of dust from the saddle of a rodeo horse, the final journey for a young Wyoming cowboy killed by his addiction to opioids.

Beer, who was just 29 when he died, was one of millions of Americans dependent on OxyContin, a prescription opiate first given to him after he hurt his knee falling off a horse."They continued to prescribe them, until at some point, he had to have them," says his father, Don Beer.