Missouri’s school wastewater drug-testing program is expanding from a voluntary pilot effort to a statewide initiative after lawmakers approved legislation making participation mandatory. The program, administered through the Missouri Department of Public Safety, will eventually include school districts across the state and is expected to begin sampling in mid-September.

Mike O’Connell, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said the expansion builds on a pilot program that drew participation from about 40 schools.

“The legislature passed legislation now that says that this is going to be mandatory,” O’Connell said. “The contractor, they are out mapping the sewage systems for schools around the state. We think they’ll be able to get to 150 schools this year.”

Under the program, wastewater samples are analyzed for fentanyl and other illegal drugs. Officials say the testing is designed to identify drug-use trends within school populations and provide districts with information that can support prevention and education efforts.

The first year of testing uncovered the presence of nitazenes, a class of highly potent synthetic opioids that have raised concerns among public health and law enforcement officials.

“We found nitazines, which are a specialized, highly lethal type of fentanyl,” O’Connell said. “They’re considered very dangerous, and that wound up being found in a lot of school districts around the state.”

State officials say not every school will be tested at once. Instead, districts will be selected from rural, suburban and urban areas as officials work toward statewide coverage.

“This will be divided up across the state to get rural, suburban, urban, and then those results are shared with the districts,” O’Connell said. “They’re testing for cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl.”

The results will be posted online and shared with participating school districts. Officials expect sampling to begin in mid-September.

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