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Nation's 1st pot resort could make $2M a month

Posted at 10:16 AM, Sep 29, 2015
and last updated 2015-09-29 12:16:06-04

The small South Dakota Indian tribe known as the Flandreau Santee Sioux already has a successful casino, a 120-room hotel and a 240-head buffalo ranch.

Now it's 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.

Tribal President Anthony Reider envisions the resort as "an adult playground."

The tribe says the project could generate up to $2 million a month in profit. The first joints are expected to go on sale New Year's Eve.

Plans to open a pot-friendly ranch resort in southwest Colorado were snuffed before it opened. The 170-acre CannaCamp resort touted weed-friendly activities such as hiking, yoga, painting and fishing.

CannaCamp had a tentative agreement to operate on an existing ranch just outside Durango. But the deal fell through after the CannaCamp announcement last month made international headlines and became the butt of jokes on late-night TV.

The MaryJane Group, which runs marijuana-friendly inns in Denver and Silverthorne, announced that it hopes to find a new home for CannaCamp by 2016.