Health insurance, car insurance, house insurance; it seems like you can insure just about everything you own these days and medical marijuana is no exception. Michigan dispensaries, growers, patients, and caregivers can all be insured. This means, like car or home insurance, when people have their medication stolen or their dispensary broken into they are covered.
An insurance company like cannassure will give dispensary owners general as well as product liability, for up to $5 million. They offer property protection in case of fires, robbery, or acts of vandalism. The medical coverage they offer not only covers the medicine if it is stolen or lost in a fire but also protects it while in transit from where it is manufactured into the dispensary. Cannassure also covers growers or caregivers with living plant material, harvested plant material, and finished stock coverage. The insurance covers lightning, theft, fire, vandalism, smoke, water damage, and more.
Another insurance company that offers coverage in Michigan is Premier Dispensary Insurance. They deal with general and product liability, workers compensation, and medical malpractice. They also offer coverage for property, crop and stock, and business auto. If a dispensary has to be closed due to theft, vandalism, or fire the company will make up the loss of income.
There are other insurance companies that offer coverage in Michigan such as Cannabis Insurance Advisors, MMD Insurance, Green Pointe Insurance, and so many others. It has become a booming market all over the country since California first started opening dispensaries. These companies realized early on that marijuana is a business and should be treated as such. Most of the companies do not have any affiliation, ownership, or conflicts of interests with the marijuana dispensaries they insure so they are completely professional in their standing while offering the same type of coverage and help that other “typical” insurance companies offer. An added benefit to these new insurance companies is that most of these companies are still developing and are smaller than the usual corporations, which will hopefully mean better customer service than most of us have to deal with when filing a home or car claim.
There are more insurance companies willing to insure those facilities that cater to medical patients instead of recreational suppliers. They feel it is a higher risk to insure those that operate for recreational purposes only, plus the medical marijuana is recommended by a physician, making the companies feel more at ease. There is also the issue of the federal government still labeling the drug as illegal that causes some insurers to shy away from having anything to do with the marijuana community as a whole. Even the companies currently supplying insurance to dispensaries are treading carefully, as the risks for insuring them are still unknown.
The importance of these insurance companies is the same as with all other types of insurance, when businesses lose their products or equipment they lose their investments and income. Since the industry is fairly new and individuals are still working out the kinks in their businesses they can become easy targets for thieves and scammers. Thankfully we have forward thinking individuals that saw a new branch opening in their market and are doing what they can to supply the demand.
