South Dakota Tribe to Open Nation's First Marijuana "Resort"

Shutterstock.com
Shutterstock.com

What do you call somebody who's hotboxing on an Indian reservation?

Who knows, honestly. But pretty soon, it'll just be "vacationer."

You may think of slot machines and roulette when it comes to American Indian reservations, but the Santee Sioux tribe in Flandreau, South Dakota has high hopes for a new, potentially game-changing venture: creating the nation's first marijuana "resort," according to a report by the Associated Press. And no, they're not talking about your living room setup.

“We want it to be an adult playground,” tribal President Anthony Reider told the AP. “There’s nowhere else in America that has something like this.” Hopefully, it'll be enough to forget that you're in freaking South Dakota.

The resort will consist of a smoking lounge complete with food, arcade games, slot machines, outdoor music, a nightclub, and most importantly, pot sourced from right on the reservation, where growing is already underway. In fact, the first joints are expected to go on sale at a New Year's Eve party, where you can expect 30 varieties of weed like ”Shot Glass” and “Big Blue Cheese," according to the report. The tribe already runs a 120-room hotel, 240-head buffalo ranch, and a successful casino, but officials said the plans will bolster profits at the reservation, where marijuana was legalized in June.

The marijuana will be sold in 1-gram packages that'll run you around $15, but you can buy only 1 gram at a time; however, you can go back for more after that if you need to. It's kinda like getting drinks at a casino. Oh, and in case you were wondering, no, the pot can't leave the reservation. The tribe expects to bring in about $2 million a month from the new business, which unsurprisingly, has other tribes interested, according to the AP.

So, who's working on the first marijuana cruise ship?

Sign up here for our daily Thrillist email, and get your fix of the best in food/drink/fun.

Tony Merevick is Cities News Editor at Thrillist and you had me at "resort." Send news tips to news@thrillist.com and follow him on Twitter @tonymerevick.