Medicinal Marijuana Growers Can Now Purchase Insurance For Protection

Geico for the greenery? Do tell…

Medicinal Marijuana Growers Can Now Purchase Insurance For Protection

Pot is on the top of a lot of minds right now. Oregon’s medical marijuana law has become one of the hottest election issues in Oregon’s attorney general race.

Sixteen states and the District of Columbia now have medical marijuana laws.

In just Oregon and Washington there are nearly 100,000 medical marijuana patients.

Now this once fringe culture has taken another step towards the mainstream – growers and grower cooperatives can now buy insurance policies to protect their crops and marijuana inventories against losses.

Insurance agent Dan DeChynne is one of the first to sell the pot policies in Oregon and Southwest Washington.

“It covers every kind of possible case; fire, rain, or wind, theft, even raids,” he told KATU On Your Side Investigator Thom Jensen.

We met DeChynne outside one of the new store fronts where patients buy medical marijuana insurance in Kalama, Wash.

The policy at Releaf Medical Marijuana growers cooperative covers the brick and mortar, but it also protects the pot against losses from bugs, theft, fire and yes, even raids by local or state police.

As he pushed a cart loaded with some of Releaf’s potent pain killer and sleep disorder pot called AK-47, manager Nate Hewitt told KATU the insurance protects patients more than anyone.

“It’s priceless for me because of the value it is to the patients,” he said.

Without the insurance, Hewitt said there are just too many variables that can ruin a marijuana crop or leave then vulnerable to raids and thefts. He said the insurance policies will help restore inventories more quickly after a loss so he can start delivering the medicine to patients.

So how popular IS this new Indica insurance???

Michael Aberle of Statewide Insurance in Sacramento said his company underwrites between 3,500 to 4,000 marijuana policies right now. He said the industry cannot protect clients against federal raids because marijuana is still considered a controlled substance at the federal level.

If insurance companies reimburse growers for their losses after federal raids, Aberle said, agents and insurance companies could be charged with aiding and abetting a crime.

DeChynne said the policies begin at about $1,200 to $2,000 a year with a $5,000 deductible.

My, my, how things have changed. How long do you think it will be before the government legalizes the green stuff?

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