FLANDREAU, S.D. (KELO AM) A nationally watched marijuana trial is now underway in Flandreau, South Dakota.
Eric Hagen, an executive with Monarch Industries based in Colorado is facing South Dakota marijuana charges. Recreational pot is legal in Colorado. Hagen was helping the Santee Sioux Tribe try to create a marijuana resort on the reservation, just 45 miles north of Sioux Falls.
The trial, which is expected to take up to a week, could have major implications for the legal marijuana industry and for Indian tribal rights. One of the questions is can South Dakota prosecute a non-Indian for what allegedly happened on the sovereign territory of a reservation?
The Santee Sioux burned their pot crop and put the resort idea on hard hold, fearing a federal raid.