INSURERS WEIGH PAYMENTS FOR STOLEN MEDICAL MARIJUANA AFTER SUPREME COURT
DECISION

A growing number of medical marijuana users whose backyard pot plants
were stolen by thieves or commandeered by police have succeeded in
getting insurance companies to reimburse them for the loss.

The dollar amounts aren't huge: The pot is supposed to keep one person
healthy not sold on the street, where high-grade marijuana is more
expensive than gold. However, one insurer paid $12,375 to a man who
lost three pounds of pot to an armed intruder.

But just as medical marijuana was beginning to gain acceptance as an
insurable good, a recent ruling by the Supreme Court in an Oakland,
Calif., case has cast doubt on the future of such payments.

The court ruled in May that clubs dispensing medical marijuana
according to state laws could not use a "medical necessity" defense
against federal anti-drug laws, which do not allow for medical marijuana.

The court didn't resolve the question of whether individual Americans
have a right to marijuana as a pain remedy.

Even so, State Farm will deny future claims for medical marijuana, and
the other insurers will give them renewed scrutiny, spokesmen said.

"It's clearly stated in the homeowners' policy that we will not pay
for illegal activities," said Lonny Haskins, the State Farm spokesman.

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

Insurers generally agree that marijuana becomes a homeowner's personal
property under state law when the policyholder has permission to grow
or possess it for medical reasons. That's possible in the eight states
with state laws allowing medical marijuana - California, Alaska,
Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon and Washington.

Even though these laws are in conflict with federal law barring use or
possession of marijuana, major insurance companies have made at least
a dozen such reimbursements, according to a series of interviews by
The Associated Press. Most of the claims have been filed in California.

Medical marijuana advocates say insurers are treating the court ruling
as political cover, not legal precedent.

"If an insurance company is looking for an excuse to save a few
dollars and deny a claim, I suppose they can use the Supreme Court
case as an excuse," says Keith Stroup, executive director of the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.