diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 69e616fa53..c86fb1f1dd 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ Merged from 2.2:
  * Expose phi values from failure detector via JMX and tweak debug
    and trace logging (CASSANDRA-9526)
 Merged from 2.1:
+ * Avoid repetition of JVM_OPTS in debian package (CASSANDRA-8821)
+ * Fix potential NPE from handling result of SIM.highestSelectivityIndex (CASSANDRA-10550)
  * Fix paging issues with partitions containing only static columns data (CASSANDRA-10381)
  * Fix conditions on static columns (CASSANDRA-10264)
  * AssertionError: attempted to delete non-existing file CommitLog (CASSANDRA-10377)
diff --git a/debian/init b/debian/init
index a8358117fa..ff563d3064 100644
--- a/debian/init
+++ b/debian/init
@@ -31,16 +31,6 @@ FD_LIMIT=100000
 # Read configuration variable file if it is present
 [ -r /etc/default/$NAME ] && . /etc/default/$NAME
 
-# Read Cassandra environment file.
-. /etc/cassandra/cassandra-env.sh
-
-if [ -z "$JVM_OPTS" ]; then
-    echo "Initialization failed; \$JVM_OPTS not set!" >&2
-    exit 3
-fi
-
-export JVM_OPTS
-
 # Export JAVA_HOME, if set.
 [ -n "$JAVA_HOME" ] && export JAVA_HOME