Supply Vs. Demand
One might argue that raising the price would reduce demand, but the unique nature of peyote’s place as “Spiritual Food” in NAC ceremonies means the standard rules of supply and demand have little bearing on the amount distributed. Largely, the only limiting factor is supply, not demand. Therefore, with every price increase, more harvest pressure is directly applied to remaining populations, as there is more incentive to make the sale. As prices rise and populations shrink, more illegal importing occurs from the similarly threatened peyote populations south of the border in Mexico.