Scarcity of peyote means hard times for dealers
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_16572050?source=most_viewed
By WILL WEISSERT
Posted: 11/10/2010
RIO GRANDE CITY, TexasWhen the state of Texas licensed him as a
peyote distributor in 1990, Mauro Morales put a sign in his front
yard with his name and phone number: "Peyote Dealer. Buy or Sell Peyote."
His neighbors balked, saying calling so much attention to his trade
had to be against the law. "So I called Austin and said, 'I think
everything's legal. I've got the paperwork. Can't I put up a sign?'"
Morales recalled.
Twenty years later, the sign still stands, but it's harder than ever
for Morales to make a living. The hallucinogenic cactus is becoming
more difficult to find because many ranchers have stopped allowing
peyote harvesters on their land, preferring to plow the grayish-green
plant under so cattle can graze.
Others now lease their property to deer hunters or oil and gas companies.
The result is over-harvesting of remaining stocks, making peyote even
more scarce. "Things are kind of getting slower every year," said
Morales, who is one of just three Americans currently licensed to
sell peyote, which grows wild in four Texas counties along the border
with Mexico.
Peyote is illegal under federal law, except for use in some American
Indian religious ceremonies. Since the mid-1970s, the state has
licensed a small number of people to sell it to members of the Native
American Church.
California voters recently rejected a proposal to legalize marijuana
for recreational use, and a drug war threatens to tear Mexico apart.
But Morales says his business is simple and honest.
"I try to stay out of problems," he said. "I've been doing it too long."
Morales, 67, has seven employees who search for peyote plants to
harvest their "buttons," small round growths that contain the
mind-altering juice mescaline, which produces a dreamlike delirium
for up to 12 hours.
Users generally chew on the buttons, smoke them or boil them in water
to make a drug-infused tea. The number of buttons it takes to feel
psychedelic effects varies greatly by person and the potency of
individual plants.
Morales' crews now bring in about 3,000 buttons per day, but even
four years ago, it was 10,000. He began harvesting peyote at 14, when
American Indian elders taught him to cut the buttons without harming
the roots. Back then, each button could be sold to distributors for a
nickel, but had to be at least as large as a half dollar.
Now Morales pays his harvesters 15 cents per button, no matter the
size. "There are no more half dollar-sizes around," he said.
New peyote plants look a bit like oversized green molars. Even fully
grown plants rarely get larger than an orange.
Known as "Peyoteros," the peyote distributors use information
provided by families in the area to hunt the cactus down, and they
know all roads and trails by heart.
Prime spots are usually hillsides that are a bit rocky and have no
sand in the soil. The intense heat means harvesters can often search
only until early afternoon and must contend with the occasional rattlesnake.
Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange said peyote
distributors sold more than 1.5 million buttons worth approximately
$483,000 last year, up from nearly 1.48 million buttons with a value
of $471,000 in 2008. But that's down sharply from the mid-1990s, when
distributors sold more than 2.3 million buttons, according to Morales
and another licensed peyote dealer, Salvador Johnson.
Mange said the number of licensed distributors in Texas has declined
as the job has gotten harder. Experts have noticed the same changes.
"The cactus grows slowly, and the peyoteros are forced to go back too
early and harvest re-growth buttons," said Martin Terry, a biology
professor at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas. He
co-founded the Cactus Conservation Institute to safeguard several
species, including peyote.
Harvesters once routinely uncovered 100- to 150-year-old plants but
now usually settle for cacti that are less than five years old, said
Johnson, who deals peyote in Mirando City, about 90 miles north of
Rio Grande City, otherwise known for its thriving mesquite tree population.
Teodosio Herrera is spiritual leader of the 30-member Rio Grande
Native American Church and calls peyote "the medicine," a monicker
used by everyone who deals legally in the cactus. He said the problem
of cutting away buttons too early is exacerbated by poachers who
harvest peyote incorrectly, harming the roots so the plants cannot regenerate.
"If we don't do something to ensure survivability, it may not be
around for my great-grandchildren," said Herrera, 62.
Commercial quantities of peyote grow nowhere in the U.S. outside
Texas. Besides Morales and Johnson, the only other licensed peyote
dealer is Morales' nephew, also in Rio Grande City. Ninety percent of
peyote grows in Mexico, but it is generally not valuable enough to
smuggle to the U.S.Morales sells 100 buttons for $35.
He said there used to be poachers who hunted down their own peyote
and sold it illegally on the roadside, but their ranks have also
diminished along with the supply.
Morales has 300 to 500 clients per year. Buyers must be members of
the Native American Church and at least one-quarter American Indian.
They have to fill out paperwork providing tribal information.
The church traces its roots to the 1880s, around the time of the
Wounded Knee massacre, when a new religion known as the "ghost dance"
sprung up among American Indians. The church now has branches in more
than 20 states and as many as 500,000 worshippers by some estimates.
Herrera, who has church members spread across South Texas, performs
seven ceremonial gatherings a year with peyote. He leads more for
special occasions such as weddings and funerals.
"In the '60s especially, hippies were experimenting with it," Herrera
said. "To us, it's always been a spiritual medicine."
Slight and balding, Morales is extremely hard-of-hearing but
chattyswitching seamlessly between English and Spanish. He shares
his home with his wife and a Chihuahua that sleeps in a rusty bird cage.
Many of Morales' customers visit him to buy fresh peyote, which he
breaks down with a tomato slicer and parcels out in gunny sacks. He
will also mail dry buttons all over the U.S.
Many buyers stay on his property to use the peyote. In his backyard,
where chickens totter about and mosquitoes feast on any exposed skin,
Morales has a brick altar surrounded by a garden of peyote.
In an adjacent shed, he has wooden bins, each holding 1,000 peyote
buttons in various states of aging. He generally keeps 20,000 total in stock.
Fresh peyote is fairly smooth. Older buttons become gnarled and even
sprout exterior seedlings similar to the eyes on potatoes. Inside,
the cactus is yellow and starts out looking moist but dries out over
time. After about a month, the button becomes soft and full of bruises.
For years, Morales refrained from using peyote because doing so was
against the law for him. But now he acknowledges sometimes taking it
with his morning coffee.
He credits it with helping ease his heart disease. Once a day, he
steps to his altar and crosses himself, offering a small prayer of thanks.
"It gets in your head after a while and feels pretty good," he said.
"The plants were made by the creator. I think about that a lot."
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