California Company Becomes First to Offer Commercial Insurance to Marijuana Businesses
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has announced that for the first time legal marijuana businesses in the state now have an insurance company willing to offer them commercial insurance.
According to Jones, legal marijuana businesses are now able to purchase commercial insurance from Golden Bear Insurance Company, the first company willing to offer such services to the marijuana industry. The insurer was given approval last week to began providing commercial insurance to marijuana businesses that are explicitly following state law.
“Consumers who visit cannabis businesses, workers who work there, businesses who sell products to or rent property to cannabis businesses, and the investors, owners and operators of cannabis businesses all should have insurance coverage available to help them recover when something goes wrong just as any other legalized business does,” said commissioner Jones in a statement.
Although Golden Bear Insurance Company isn’t the first company in the state to provide insurance for the marijuana industry (there are currently 25 carriers that provide riskier forms of insurance), but they are the first to offer commercial insurance.
When asked about the potential risk of insurers working with the marijuana industry due to the Trump campaign, Jones says: “We believe the risk of federal intervention with an insurer is low. The fact that 25 surplus lines carriers are writing insurance currently demonstrates this.”
