Pubdate: Wed, 30 Sep 2015
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Associated Press
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388

SANTEE SIOUX TRIBE TO OPEN NATION'S 1ST MARIJUANA RESORT

FLANDREAU, S.D. (AP) - The Santee Sioux tribe has already proven 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 money-making 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, and work is already under way on the growing 
facility. The first joints are expected to go on sale Dec. 31 at a 
New Year's Eve party.

The legalization of marijuana on the Santee Sioux land came in June, 
months after the Justice Department outlined a new policy that allows 
Indian tribes to grow and sell marijuana under the same conditions as 
some states.

Many tribes are hesitant to jump into the pot business. And not 
everyone in Flandreau, about 45 miles north of Sioux Falls, believes 
in the project. But the profit potential has attracted the interest 
of many other tribes, just as the debut of slot machines and table 
games almost 27 years ago.

"The vast majority of tribes have little to no economic opportunity," 
said Blake Trueblood, business development director at 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.'"

Flandreau's indoor marijuana farm is set against a backdrop of 
soybean fields. If not for a security booth outside, the building 
could pass as an industrial warehouse.

Pot is prone to mildew and mold, picky about temperature and pH level 
and intolerant to tap water. So the Santee Sioux have hired Denver 
consulting firm Monarch America to teach them the basics.

Tribal leaders from across the country and South Dakota legislators 
will tour the Flandreau facility in mid-October.

"This is not a fly-by-night operation," said Jonathan Hunt, Monarch's 
vice president and chief grower. Tribal leaders "want to show the 
state how clean, how efficient, how proficient, safe and secure this 
is as an operation."

A marijuana resort open to the public has never been tried in the U.S.

Even in states such as Colorado and Washington, where pot is fully 
legal, consumption in public places is generally forbidden, although 
pro-pot activists are seeking to loosen those restrictions. Colorado 
tolerates a handful of private marijuana clubs.
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