COURT'S MARIJUANA RULING SEEN AS BOON FOR INSURERS

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling that federal drug laws prohibit
distribution of marijuana may be just what the doctor ordered for
California insurance companies sick of paying claims on lost, stolen
or confiscated pot.

People legally using marijuana for medicinal purposes in California
have been able to file claims with their insurance companies for
payments when their pot was lost, stolen or confiscated by police.

Although medicinal use of marijuana is legal in California under a
1996 voter initiative, a Supreme Court decision in May barring
distribution of the drug has thrown into question the validity of such
insurance claims in California. Insurers said Tuesday that they are
rethinking their policies regarding claims, and marijuana advocates
are crying foul.

"In the last two years there have been four losses [of marijuana] in
California where we actually made a payment," said Bob Daniels, a
spokesman for Allstate Insurance, a unit of Allstate Corp. "We are in
the process of trying to figure out exactly what our position is going
to be in the future."

Elenore Williams, a spokeswoman for State Farm Insurance in Los
Angeles, said the company has seen four or five claims for lost
marijuana in the last few years, but she could not specify which of
the claims had been paid. She said that, in light of the federal
ruling, State Farm "is not going to pay any future claims with regard
to medical marijuana."

Marijuana advocates, meanwhile, warned insurers that refusal to pay
claims could open them up to litigation because it is still legal for
a patient to grow and use his own marijuana for medicinal purposes in
California.

The Supreme Court ruling does not invalidate medical marijuana use in
California, said Eric Shevin, an attorney and spokesman for the L.A.
chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
"The federal court was clear that it wasn't ruling on individual
patients who had a necessity" to grow their own, Shevin said.