2 consultants charged in South Dakota tribal pot operation

FLANDREAU, S.D. (AP) — Two consultants who worked with a Native American tribe on its plans to open the nation's first marijuana resort have been charged with drug offenses, South Dakota's attorney general announced Wednesday.

The charges come eight months after the Flandreau Santee Sioux destroyed their crop amid fears of a federal raid, abandoning an ambitious scheme to develop "an adult playground" that they estimated could net as much as $2 million a month in profits.

Attorney General Marty Jackley, who warned against the tribe's proposal from the start, said that a range of marijuana possession charges had been brought against two top officials of Monarch America, the Littleton, Colorado-based company hired to work with the tribe.

Just a few months before the Santee Sioux burned their crop, two California tribes had their growing operation raided by federal authorities who cited concerns about third-party ownership and pot distribution off tribal land.