A concern was raised by Greene County High School Administration last school year about a substance that students were using that mimics another type of item which was already prohibited within the building. 

Principal Karen Shannon says students were using caffeine pouches, which is similar to an energy caffeinated beverage like Monster or Red Bull.

“And they’re similar to maybe a nicotine pouch and they just put them in their mouth, behind their lip. And it’s really hard for us, from a school standpoint, to know what is caffeine (and) what is nicotine? We were running into kids using them, claiming that they were caffeine packets, were they? I don’t know that. We had some cases of kids putting two or three in their mouth at a time, which from a health standpoint, is not safe.” 

Shannon points out that a provision was added to the High School Student and Parent Handbook for this school year that students can’t possess caffeine pouches while on school grounds.