Pubdate: Wed, 30 Sep 2015
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2015 Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author: Regina Garcia Cano, Associated Press

S.D. TRIBE TO OPEN NATION'S 1ST POT RESORT

FLANDREAU, S.D. (AP) - The Santee Sioux tribe has already proved its 
business acumen, running a successful casino, a 120-room hotel and a 
240-head buffalo ranch on the plains of South Dakota.

But those enterprises have not been immune to competition and the 
lingering effects of the Great Recession, so the small tribe of 400 
is undertaking a new venture - opening the nation's first marijuana 
resort on its reservation. The experiment could offer a new 
moneymaking model for tribes nationwide seeking economic 
opportunities beyond casinos.

Santee Sioux leaders plan to grow their own pot and sell it in a 
smoking lounge that includes a nightclub, arcade games, bar and food 
service and, eventually, slot machines and an outdoor music venue.

"We want it to be an adult playground," tribal President Anthony 
Reider said. "There's nowhere else in America that has something like this."

The project, according to the tribe, could generate up to $2 million 
a month in profit. The first joints are expected to go on sale Dec. 31.

The legalization of marijuana on the Santee Sioux land came in June 
after the Justice Department let Indian tribes grow and sell 
marijuana under the same conditions as some states.

Not everyone in Flandreau, about 45 miles north of Sioux Falls, 
believes in the project. But the profit potential has attracted the 
interest of other tribes, just as the casinos did 27 years ago.

"The vast majority of tribes have little to no economic opportunity," 
said Blake Trueblood of the National Center for American Indian 
Enterprise Development. For those tribes, "this is something that you 
might look at and say, 'We've got to do something.' "
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom