Agua Mate is one company which has been selling bulk yerba mate ingredients to manufacturers around the Pacific as consumers become more and more aware of the healthy benefits of yerba mate. It sells its product to Korea where it is used as tea and even in organic skin care products. In New Zealand naturopathic remedies are produced and several other new products are soon to come to market where consumers will be able to use sustainably produced natural products to improve wellness and reduce their ecological footprint.
La Pachamama another yerba mate supplier sells its products to a growing market made up of both ex-pat South Americans and kiwis of many ethnic backgrounds (particularly New Zealanders of Chinese, Korean and Japanese decent) who enjoy the health benefits and wellness attained from consuming yerba mate as a tea.
Both of these companies have been approached by the party pill industry as they expand their customer base and diversify their product lines to hedge against increasing regulatory activity. Retailers in New Zealand recognise that this subculture is an important market niche that cannot be ignored, however as one yerba mate company director puts it "too much effort has gone into positioning our brand as an organic, healthy and unprocessed product in the New Zealand tea market. Why would we support an irresponsible industry that will damage our image in the market?"
In 2008 the New Zealand government added benzylpiperazine and phenylpiperazine to the Misuse of Drug Act. This led to many brands being removed from the market. This was thought to be the end of legal "party pills". Now, after Dr. John W. Huffman a Professor of chemistry in South Carolina invented a synthetic cannabis for medicinal applications here in New Zealand new brands are in the sights of the public health industry who are left to deal with the social costs of inappropriate use. Already some versions of the cannabis drug have been banned due to the presence of epilepsy medication that was not declared as an ingredient on the packaging.
Yerba Mate is a natural medicinal plant that has been consumed since ancient times. There is no secret or mystery to its significant health benefits. In fact it has been widely studied in academia and is popularly recognised as the most nutritious source of vitamins and minerals available in the tea market. Even on this site we have mused about how traditional consumption (using a gourd and filtered straw (or bombilla) is akin to smoking a water pipe, and this is possibly one of the reasons the party pill industry is investigating yerba mate for use in its products.
The yerba mate industry is really struggling with the issue, as on one hand they want to see increased use of its products and if they do not sell to the party pill industry, they will most likely obtain this from somebody else eventually. On the other hand, these products could be subjected to regulatory scrutiny by association with other ingredients (such as synthetic cannabinoids) and could lead to consumer distrust.
It will be detrimental to have yerba mate associated with any type of drug (accepting of course that caffeine is a "drug"). On the other hand, you have products such as Guarana or ginseng… people know that these natural ingredients are safe and healthy in the right quantities, but some of the concoctions in many energy drinks generally lead the consumer to an unhealthy end product. Yerba Mate iced tea on the other hand is an excellent example of a product that is safe and healthy and when prepared properly can be delicious.
