A Native American tribe plans to do something that’s technically illegal in South Dakota, the state where the tribe resides: It will grow and sell marijuana.
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The Santee Sioux are opening the nation’s first marijuana resort on its reservation. It will include a nightclub, bar and eventually slot machines and an outdoor music venue as well.
The tribe says the project could generate up to $2 million a month in profit. They expect to blaze their first joints at their New Year’s Eve Party. If successful, it could prove to be a new business model for tribes across the country. “(Tribal leaders) want to show the state how clean, how efficient, how proficient, safe and secure this is as an operation. The “resort” could be unique in that even in states where pot has been legalized public consumption is typically against the law, but those restrictions don’t seem likely to last. “We are not looking to do anything shady”. Existing enterprises support family homes, a senior living community, a clinic and a community center offering after-school programs. The small tribe of 400 hopes to use the profits for housing, a clinic, and addiction treatment. The Obama administration hasn’t changed that (Obama still opposes legalization), but it has agreed to let states and Native American tribes legalize the drug without much federal interference.
But with all the good comes the bad and the tribes have to follow a strict security measure while planning for this resort.
Jonathan Hunt, a consultant, checks on his seedling marijuana plants on the Flandreau Santee Sioux Reservation. They’re already at work, cultivating a few 30 strains of weed that they plan to sell for $12.50 to $15 a gram. In order to do it right, the Santee Sioux went to Denver cannabis consulting firm Monarch America for assistance. The Passamaquoddy Tribe in Maine signed a letter of intent for industrial hemp and the Suquamish Tribe in Washington signed a 10-year agreement that will govern the production, processing, and sale of pot on the tribe’s land.
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Reider believes, in the long run, the benefits will massively outweigh the risks. For those tribes, “this is something that you might look at and say, “We’ve got to do something”.
