Cannabis Insurers on the Lookout, Federal Legalization Expected

BY: Chronic Staff | Recent News | published September 22, 2021

Insurers are getting ready for the potential increase in sales with the booming $17.6 billion per year cannabis industry. This comes not as a surprise because Congress is going closer to legalizing marijuana at the federal level.

On the other hand, 36 states and the District of Columbia legalized cannabis for medical and recreational use. Insurance for growers, testing labs, and retailers is being held in check by strict federal laws that criminalized pot together with heroin, methamphetamine, and LSD.

Nevertheless, US legal cannabis sales went up to 45% last year and are expected to hit $41 billion in 2026 according to the research made by the BDSA firm.

Some insurers are getting ready with new types of coverage as the businesses also need coverage for crops and theft. It cannot be denied that there is a need for the right kind of insurance said Rocco Petrilli, the chairman of the National Cannabis Risk Management Association (NCRMA) which is a trade group of 3,000 cannabis businesses

The absence of insurance creates operational challenges and raises costs. BDSA expects some form of federal legalization in 2022 which could send insurance sales to cannabis businesses to over $3 billion in the next 5 years if indeed the industry were insured like normal businesses.