The Santee Sioux hope the marijuana "smoking lounge" they are building in a converted bowling alley will bring $2 million a month to the tribe, despite opposition from the governor, who calls the project illegal.

Workers are gutting a bowling alley across the parking from the tribe's new growing warehouse, and plan the grand opening on New Year's Eve. Tribal President Tony Reider envisions a hotspot with a stage for performers, a dance floor, a bar, restaurant, smoking lounge and marijuana dispensary.

The tribe invited all 105 members of South Dakota's Legislature to tour both facilities on Friday, but only five showed up.

Governor Dennis Daugaard was a no-show.

Get ready for some corny “peace pipe” jokes because Native American tribes are jumping on the weed wagon.

Get ready for some corny “peace pipe” jokes because Native American tribes are jumping on the weed wagon. 

The state-of-the-art marijuana growing operation with its 65 strains of plants is in its infancy as finishing touches are being put on the building where it will take about 14 weeks to grow about 80 pounds of pot. That's how much the tribe hopes to sell weekly at its smoking lounge and entertainment resort just south of their casino that is noting its 25th year of operation this month.

The resort has been about a year in the making, as the tribal council which leads the tribe of 280 adults and 110 children on the reservation voted 5-1 late last year to pursue the resort idea.

A Native American tribe in South Dakota is looking to expand its sprawling enterprise of casinos and hotels in a way that no other tribe has done before: opening a marijuanaresort.

FLANDREAU The Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe announced that it was legalizing marijuana on tribal lands back in June.
Now the tribe is getting ready to make history as it prepares to open a lounge where it will be legal to consume marijuana on the property.

This doesn’t look like much now. There’s debris on the ground and several holes in the walls, but this is all part of the deconstruction process, eventually this building will be the first ever lounge that allows people to legally consume marijuana on the property.

This old bowling alley is in the process of getting a major make over.
Crews broke ground last week, working to turn this into something that will make history.

Plans for the world’s first cannabis theme park are underway as Native American tribes turn their attention away from casinos.

The Santee Sioux tribe of South Dakota, want to build its own farming venue complete with smoking room and nightclub.

Tribal President Anthony Reider said: ‘We want it to be an adult playground. There’s nowhere else in America that has something like this.’

The tribe said the project could generate up to $2m a month in profit, and work is already under way on the growing facility.

Members hope it will provide another revenue stream other than casinos.

he Flandreau Santee Sioux currently runs a successful casino, as well as a 120-room hotel and a 240-head buffalo ranch.

However, this business enterprise has been subject to the effects of both the Great Recession and stiff competition.

Now the small Indian tribe from South Dakota is opening the country's first marijuana resort, to be built on their reservation. This experiment could prove to be a money-making model for tribes who are looking to tap into economic opportunities apart from the casino industry.

The leaders of Santee Sioux intend to grow and sell their pot in the resort's facilities, including a nightclub, a game arcade, a bar and resto, slot machines and an outdoor music hall.

Two Wisconsin tribes, the Menominee and the Ho-Chunk, look to follow South Dakota’s Flandreau Santee Sioux, seeing a potential revenue stream – but it could force them to cede some of their sovereignty to federal and local governments

With 23 US states having legalized marijuana in some form – Oregon became the latest to permit the sale of marijuana for recreational on Thursday – some Native American nations are now also considering the possibility of legalizing the plant, in some cases because it could represent a revenue stream.