Last week, a flurry of chatter in the Cassville community surrounded a news report about something I had never heard of — nitazenes.

Last fall, the Cassville school district was offered a free program to test the high school’s wastewater, and Superintendent Merlyn Johnson opted in. Done at specific times aimed at capturing school day use, and no outside adult use during extracurricular activities the public attends, the Department of Public Safety pulled samples weekly from 2 feet inside the wastewater pipe exiting the high school along Partridge Street.

The result? DPS detected nitazenes. 

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, nitazenes, or benzimidazole-opioids, are synthetic opioids that originated in the 1950s, and since 2019, the abuse of nitazenes is similar to other synthetic opioids and has resulted in adverse health effects, including death. Used for their psychoactive effects, nitazenes are likely to be abused in the same manner as schedule I opioids like heroin, etonitazene and isotonitazene. They may be found in tablets, like fake oxycodone, heroin, ketamine and synthetic cannabinoids, and they can be injected, inhaled or swallowed.

Nitazenes demonstrate a potency up to 500 times that of morphine and shown by one animal study to have a higher potency than fentanyl.

So, how are nitazenes in the wastewater? The answer — they are present in the urine and/or excrement from students, or possibly staff, who use the restroom during the school day. This doesn’t mean students or staff are using drugs during the school day, rather, that they are likely using outside of school then using school restroom facilities within 24 hours of use.

Unfortunately, the result does not come as much of a surprise to anyone who has been in the Cassville community for any significant amount of time. Graduates over the last 30-40 years, and even more recently, have said on social media that drug use was common during their prep years.

Even more recently — last November — Cassville Assistant Principal Jody Cavness wrote a “Community Voices” column for this publication underscoring the prevalence of marijuana at the high school. In the last two years he said, Cassville has 22 suspensions for THC violations, and at the time that article was published three months into the current school year, Cassville had 15 long-term suspensions for marijuana use.

The same week Cavness’ piece ran, I did our weekly Through the Years section. That very same week in 1995, Bob Mitchell wrote a column lamenting the school district’s challenges with marijuana.

This is not a new problem. It spans decades and generations, and it remains prolific throughout our community. 

Cavness’ piece was written before any wastewater testing was done, hence the lack of surprise in the testing’s results.

So, where is it coming from? The fact that the positive result is for nitazenes is telling. There are a handful of businesses locally that sell marijuana products — at least six that I can think of off the top of my head. 

Only one of those businesses — the Cassville Dispensary — is put through rigorous state oversight and standards. Furthermore, the Dispensary requires an ID at the door, which is scanned and would be immediately deemed invalid if fake. 

The other five — who have each been served cease and desist letter I’m told — sell all kinds of a range of products not under any oversight. Not tested. Not regulated. Nothing. I know plenty of parents of high school students, and they say if you ask the students, they all know where the substances are coming from.

Are these businesses selling directly to minors? I’ll give the benefit of the doubt to that question. Are there kids getting their hands on products from those businesses? Assuming the Department of Public Safety’s testing results are valid, the answer is an unequivocal yes.

So, what’s next? I have to give credit to Merlyn. Opting into this study and facing the results is not easy. He could have very easily declined and avoided the hulabaloo that has ensued. Yet, that’s not his tact. Merlyn said in our interview last week on the subject two things that stuck out to me. One, that the district opted in to face this problem head-on. Two, that he feels the district has been backed into a corner and needs to fight back.

So, what does that look like? School officials are considering going into any and all businesses that sell unregulated marijuana products and impressing on the managers or owners that this is a problem. Next, they are in contact with Sheriff Danny Boyd in hopes of bringing in law enforcement to better-educate students about the dangers of drugs of all kinds, hopefully emphasizing the effects of synthetic drugs as more dangerous because no one locally can tell you what’s in them.

Beyond that, parents and the community need education the subject — parents specifically. It’s not beyond the realm to believe minors could be swiping products their parents have bought. It’s also not beyond the realm to believe, as Merlyn said in our interview, that minors share these products — and trust their friends that they are safe.

So, what does the future look like? How do we stop a multi-generational problem? The short answer — there isn’t one. This problem is local, regional, national. Thirty-seven districts opted into this testing, and 27 tested positive.

Seems to me as a community, as the Ozarks, as a country, we have work to do. This transcends politics, lifestyles and opinions. It’s not OK — and if we don’t take action, action will take our children’s futures.

Kyle Troutman has served as editor of the Cassville Democrat since 2014 and owner/publisher since 2023. He is a three-time ISWNE Golden Dozen award winner. He may be reached at 417-847-2610 or [email protected].