Pubdate: Thu, 24 Dec 2009
Source: Colorado Springs Independent (CO)
Copyright: 2009 Colorado Springs Independent
Contact:  http://www.csindy.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1536
Author: J. Adrian Stanley
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

POT PROTECTION

Insurance Agents Are The Latest To Cater To Colorado's  Budding
Business

While some Colorado lawmakers are instituting  moratoriums or
redesigning zoning laws to stomp out the  burgeoning medical marijuana
industry, the business  sector sees opportunity. It wants a piece of
the pie -  or the brownie, as the case may be.

And as businesspeople reach out to dispensaries,  something magical is
happening: Medical marijuana is  starting to look a lot like a
business. A real one.  Dispensaries are paying taxes, they're
following OSHA  regulations, and, increasingly, they're buying  insurance.

Now, the insurance industry isn't exactly known for its  flair for
adventure. So when Californian Mike Aberle  started thinking that
insuring medical marijuana  dispensaries and cooperatives would be a
swell idea, he  didn't rush into his boss' office at Statewide
Insurance Services corporation in Rancho Cordova. When  he finally did
bring up the subject, he was surprised  by the response.

Yes.

Breadth of a salesman

A few years later, Aberle's idea has grown into  Statewide's Medical
Marijuana Dispensary specialty  unit, which has a staff of 10
dedicated to tailoring  insurance packages for the pot industry. The
program,  which currently insures about 120 dispensaries,  recently
branched into Colorado, and has snatched up  quite a bit of business,
though no Springs dispensaries  have signed on so far.

Statewide isn't the only company offering insurance  packages to
dispensaries, but Cameron Lewis,  spokesperson for Colorado's Division
of Insurance, says  it's hard to track who is.

"Unless they are also marketing it and bringing  attention to their
concept, there isn't any way we  would know," she wrote in an e-mail.

Aberle says dispensary owners are great customers.  They're willing to
go the extra mile to secure  policies, even installing security
measures that rival  those at most banks. And they're dedicated to
keeping  claims to a minimum, alleviating concerns that carriers  may
have about extending their services to an emerging,  controversial and
- - let's face it - federally illegal  business.

"Knock on wood," Aberle says, "we have a zero loss  ratio with our
clients right now."

Statewide's tailored packages usually include general  liability,
property coverage, crop coverage (for  growers), workers compensation,
auto insurance (for  companies that do deliveries), and product liability.

The packages take into account dispensaries' unique  risks. For
instance, most small businesses don't buy  workers compensation
insurance for owners or officers.  But dispensaries usually want that
coverage, because  there's a higher chance of being robbed or
assaulted -  just as there would be at a bank. However, unlike a
bank, dispensaries also have to worry about product  rotting, or
plants dying due to equipment failure.

"This industry is so specialized," Aberle says. "You  really need to
know what you're doing."

Done right, Aberle thinks insuring medical marijuana  will cultivate
more credibility and more acceptance  from the public. That last part
means a lot to Aberle,  who watched his stepmother suffer and finally
succumb  to ovarian cancer.

She didn't try medical marijuana - partly because of  conservative
values, but also because she was afraid of  how others might judge her
if they found out.

"That's how I got into it," Aberle says, "because I saw  the
compassion side of it."

Flowers among the weed

Kristal Bernert sees lots of people like Aberle's  stepmom. Bernert's
a Denver attorney and certified  public accountant - the person you go
to for those  major changes in life. Like starting a new business. Or
writing a will.

While settling estates for her clients, Bernert would  talk to them
about how they were weathering the last  days of their lives. And many
of them, she noticed,  were saying the same thing: Thank God for
medical  marijuana.

"[Pot] helps alleviate pain," she says. "It helps  assist people and
make them more comfortable."

It was a mix of compassion and legal curiosity that led  Bernert to
create Denver's Zen Dispensaries, which will  open soon. She wanted to
be a part of the movement. She  wanted to have a say in how laws and
regulations are  crafted. And she wanted to be yet another dispensary
demonstrating that yes, this is a business. And it can  be run like
one.

So before she opened, she got a sales tax license,  installed a
security system and signed up for one of  Aberle's insurance plans.

"Because [as an attorney] I'm in the practice of  starting small
businesses, I think insurance is key,"  she says. "Being an attorney,
I see what happens.  There's all sorts of things that come up, and it
could  cost millions of dollars."

Tanya Garduno, a licensed caregiver and grower who also  serves as a
director with the Colorado Springs Medical  Cannabis Council (a group
trying to guide City Council  on regulating the industry), says she's
all for  insuring dispensaries, taxing them, and even requiring
special licensing, so long as it's practical and fair.

"We're working really hard to be as close to other  businesses as
possible," she says.

But applying all the normal business practices to  medical marijuana
may not benefit everyone.

Kevin Jones, who runs Nature's Remedy dispensary out of  his home
south of the city, says he's trying to follow  the rules - he licensed
his business and pays taxes.  But as a small start-up, he can't afford
to install the  security he'd like, let alone buy a pricey insurance
policy. And until he can move the dispensary into its  own retail
location as planned, he doubts any insurance  company would cover him.

He's probably right, according to Aberle, who says  anyone he insures
has to have airtight security.

"We're at a crucial time in history when it comes to  insurance and
medical marijuana dispensaries," Aberle  says. "The dispensaries have
to look at themselves like  a bank from the aspect of being robbed." 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D