FLANDREAU (SOUTH DAKOTA) (TIP): The Santee Sioux is opening the nation’s first marijuana resort on its reservation in South Dakota. The experiment could offer a new money-making model for tribes nationwide seeking economic opportunities beyond casinos.

Santee Sioux tribe 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 underway a on the growing facility . The first marijuana cigarettes are s expected to go on sale Decemn ber 31at 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. 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.

A marijuana resort open to the public has never been tried in the US Even in states such as Colorado and Washington, where pot is fully legal, consumption in public places is generally forbidden.