Coyotes (a smuggler typically of South American origin) are often used to poach sage. When they're caught, they're taken to prison, deported, or fined upwards of $3,000. The middleman who will profit from the sage has no consequence. Poaching white sage, therefore, harms our Indigenous neighbors from South America. 

The stress and harm done to grandmother white sage when she is poached is so stressful to the plant that it can no longer give blessing. Ethical gathering should only be done to a sage plant that has been loved and tended to, and should NEVER kill the plant. Sage poaching does both of these things. 

Indigenous Southern Californian tribes are no longer allowed to gather our own sage from Mother Earth if we don't have land to grow our own. Poached sage is brought to us, mangled and fermenting, after it has been confiscated by park rangers. It is heartbreaking. Our grandmother white sage and our mutualistic relationship with her is disappearing because of the thousands of pounds poached every year to meet the demand that overlooks our own.

Because white sage can make a good profit, when white sage is poached the whole plant is taken, often killing the sage plant. The health of the plant and the season are almost never taken into account, reducing the survival of the sage even further. 

When Coyotes poach sage, they stuff duffel bags as compactly as possible to reduce the number of trips into the wildlife areas they're poaching from. The sage plant stays crammed in a duffel back with very little ventilation, in the California heat, for hours or days before it is bundled by other migrant workers (who are also exploited). This sage begins to ferment and mold almost immediately, reducing the quality and medicinal benefits substantially. 

Although we understand white sage has become an integral part of meditation, the use of an abalone shell and/or a bird feather is cultural appropriation to our ceremonial practices. This is a continuation of the harm of colonization and Indigenous erasure.