A South Dakota tribe announced this week that it is teaming up with a cannabis company to put together a business infrastructure for growing and selling recreational marijuana on its reservation, even though cannabis is still illegal in the state.
Leaders of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, which has a reservation on the eastern edge of South Dakota, voted 5-1 earlier this month in favor of setting up a recreational marijuana production and distribution system. This week, the tribe revealed that it has ink a deal with Monarch America from Colorado to help it do so, according to an ABC affiliate.
Monarch, which hired a tribal relations officer recently with ties to the Dakotas, will design the tribe’s cultivation facility.
The site will feature a “consumption lounge” where visitors will be able to purchase cannabis and ingest it on-site, according to the Daily Republic. The lounge will have plenty to keep cannabis consumers entertained, including a bar, bowling alley, arcade and gambling options, all next door to the tribe’s Royal River Casino and Hotel.
Tribal leaders are estimating a $2 million a month profit margin from the sale of marijuana, the Republic reported.