diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 560472ab74..120be92399 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
  * Deprecate Pig support (CASSANDRA-10542)
  * Reduce contention getting instances of CompositeType (CASSANDRA-10433)
 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)
diff --git a/debian/init b/debian/init
index 56f2523bde..aff54e1c7a 100644
--- a/debian/init
+++ b/debian/init
@@ -30,16 +30,6 @@ 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