Insurers Paying Claims for Losses of Medical Marijuana

According to an AP Online report, insurers are paying out claims to a growing number of medical marijuana users whose backyard pot plants were stolen by thieves or confiscated by police. The payouts are not based on the street value of the drug, but AP reported that one insurer paid $12,375 to a man who lost three pounds of pot to an armed intruder.

A May ruling by the Supreme Court in Oakland, Calif., said that clubs dispensing medical marijuana according to state laws could not use a “medical necessity” defense against federal anti-drug laws.

Spokespersons from State Farm and other insurers were quoted as saying that they would deny future claims for medical marijuana, or at least scrutinize them.

Currently, eight states allow medical marijuana: California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Alaska, Hawaii, Colorado and Maine. Insurers generally hold that marijuana becomes a homeowner’s personal property under state law when the policyholder has permission to grow or possess it for medical reasons.

Robert DeArkland of Fair Oaks was the first person known to be reimbursed for marijuana through household insurance, according to the AP. DeArkland received $6,500 from CGU California Insurance in September 1999, for 13 marijuana plants seized from his garage by sheriffs’ deputies.