Currently 14 states have medical marijuana laws on the books but just five — California, Colorado, Maine, New Mexico and Rhode Island — allow for collectives and dispensaries. Such businesses, although legal under state laws, are not legal under federal law. Still, the federal government has not targeted such concerns, and some insurance carriers are getting into the business of providing coverage. Insurance broker Michael Aberle, now the head of the medical marijuana dispensary group at Sacramento, Calif.-based commercial broker Statewide Insurance Services Inc., says about six carriers are writing this coverage as an enhanced business owner’s policy (BOP).
“Underwriting guidelines are restrictive but insurers and dispensaries are willing to engage each other now,” Aberle told A.M. Best. “The guidelines will mean less losses over time, which will get more insurers interested and help provide choices for the insured.”
December 1, 2009