cannabisnews.com: Insurer Pays Client on Pot Seizure 





Insurer Pays Client on Pot Seizure 
Posted by FoM on September 07, 1999 at 11:40:49 PT
By Seth Rosenfeld 
Source: San Francisco Examiner 
When 71-year-old Robert DeArkland discovered he had prostate cancer in addition to his sciatica and arthritis, he asked his Sausalito psychiatrist to recommend marijuana to ease the pain. 
But early one morning a few weeks after DeArkland bought 13 small pot plants from an Oakland medical marijuana club, sheriff's deputies broke down the door of his Fair Oaks home, handcuffed him, seized the plants and charged him with cultivating pot for sale. The Sacramento district attorney's office later dismissed the charges against DeArkland and returned his growing equipment. The narcs, however, had failed to water the baby pot plants, which shriveled and died. So DeArkland, a feisty retiree, filed a claim with his insurance firm and was reimbursed $6,500 for the pot under the part of his homeowner's policy that covers "trees, shrubs and other plants." The case appears to be one of the nation's first known instances in which an insurer has paid for losses of medical marijuana. Earlier this year in Seattle, where medical marijuana is legal, State Farm Insurance paid $3,500 to a man who was arrested after he reported that his medical marijuana was stolen. The two through-the-looking-glass experiences are apparently the only publicly known instances of insurance coverage for losses of medical marijuana. They underscore the unsettled nature of medical marijuana laws and how insurance firms, traditionally among the most conservative of businesses, are handling the unusual risks that cops and criminals pose to their pot-puffing clients. The cases also suggest that adjusters will increasingly face the dilemma of setting the value of their clients' marijuana stashes, as they do with more mundane household items. 3 insurers will cover it At least three insurers - Farmers, Boston-based CGU, and State Farm, the nation's largest home insurer, with 67 million policy holders - will cover losses of medical marijuana, an informal Examiner survey found. "Yes, it would be covered like any other loss of prescription drug, as long as customers could show proof . . . that they received it under the care of a doctor. That's how we see it," said Diane Tasaka, a spokeswoman for Farmers Insurance Group, based in Los Angeles and the state's second-largest insurer of cars and homes. At State Farm's headquarters in Bloomington, Ill., spokesman Phil Supple said the firm paid its Washington claimant for his stolen pot in May, after seeing a letter from his doctor. The firm reimbursed him about $280 per ounce for his "Grade AA" pot and $200 an ounce for his "Grade A" pot, after checking prices with the state's officially recognized supplier of medical marijuana. "We don't look at the controversy of the drug as long as it's been sanctioned medically and legally," Supple said. "It's the same as if it were insulin or an expensive antibiotic. It's all brought up as personal property." DeArkland's insurance claim appears to be the first paid in California, where voters in 1996 passed Proposition 215, legalizing the growth and consumption of marijuana for medical use. Unprecedented claim "To my knowledge it's unprecedented," said Dale Gieringer, coordinator for the California chapter of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws. "It's just one more indication that marijuana is being recognized as a legal substance in appropriate uses." More claims seem likely. Gieringer estimates the state has 10,000 medical marijuana users and more than a dozen marijuana "clubs" that supply them. Insurance representatives initially were surprised at DeArkland's case, but said similar claims likewise might be covered under standard policies. Bill Packer, spokesman for the Sacramento-based Association of California Insurance Companies, said he'd never seen such a case before. " "Trees and shrubs' is actually a standard provision in the average homeowner's policy," he added. "If this is considered a legal shrub or tree, then it's covered . . " Dana Spurrier, a spokesman for the state Department of Insurance, said the agency had heard of no other cases. Tim Taylor, a legislative analyst for the department, added that losses of legitimate medical marijuana might be covered as personal property, or as trees and shrubs, as long as the loss resulted from a "named peril" - such as fire, vandalism or theft. It was unclear, he said, whether police raids were a named peril. Serious health problems DeArkland, a retired home inspector and construction worker who lives north of Sacramento, began having serious health problems in 1987, when he had a heart attack. He later developed sciatica, a painful nerve ailment in his lower back and legs, and arthritis in his hands. "I'm in constant pain," said DeArkland, adding that his prescription for Percodan isn't sufficient. "It's real severe. My kneecaps get so sore I can't even touch them." In November 1997, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. His urologist recommended surgery, but DeArkland opted for less invasive alternative treatments, taking herbs and large doses of vitamins. In July 1998, he visited Dr. Eugene Schoenfeld, a Sausalito psychiatrist who conducts court-appointed evaluations of criminal defendants and once wrote a counterculture column under the byline "Dr. Hip." Schoenfeld evaluated DeArkland, and in August 1998, recommended he use marijuana. In an interview, Schoenfeld said he approved the drug to relieve DeArkland's pain and anxiety, after explaining possible side effects such as drowsiness and lung damage. "Since the passage of Proposition 215, more and more people have come to see me to make medical marijuana recommendations," he said. Purchased plants in Oakland In early August, DeArkland bought a small amount of dried marijuana and 13 plants at the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, after its operators verified Schoenfeld's letter. DeArkland put the plants in his barn. "I wasn't trying to hide them," he said. "They were in the windows." DeArkland said he smoked as much as three marijuana cigarettes a day. "It depends on the amount of pain. It depends on the weather. It definitely kills the pain," he said. Shortly after sunrise on Oct. 1, a team of sheriff's deputies from Sacramento and Placer Counties, clad in camouflage jumpsuits and bearing a search warrant and machine guns, smashed through DeArkland's door. The officers scattered his flock of geese, detained his two teenagers, who had been preparing for school, and handcuffed DeArkland. He told them he had terminal prostate cancer, that the marijuana was recommended by a doctor and that the plants were in his barn. Deputies seized 13 plants The deputies seized the 13 plants, all less than 2 feet tall, lights used for growing them, fertilizer, $424 in cash, 1.5 grams of dried pot and a letter from Schoenfeld. During the raid, DeArkland had trouble breathing, and was taken to a hospital where he was put under observation, released and went home. He heard nothing more from the police, he said. This February, a doctor recommended that he have radiation therapy for his prostate. DeArkland went to the Sacramento district attorney's office to inquire about his case and was arrested for what officials told him was an outstanding warrant stemming from the raid, he said. He was charged with cultivating marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale, two felonies that could net sentences ranging from 16 months to three years and 8 months in jail, and released on $10,000 bail, said his Sacramento lawyer, Joseph Farina. But after court hearings, Deputy District Attorney Steve Grippi dismissed the charges for insufficient evidence. He declined to discuss details of the case, but said he believed Prop. 215 has caused confusion among law-enforcement officials because it did not specify the number of plants or illnesses that it covered. In June, the sheriff's deputies returned DeArkland's property and plants. "They were dead. They were dried up. Hell, they don't water anything," DeArkland said. He filed a $25 million claim against Placer County that contends deputies wrongfully raided his home and arrested him. He filed a similar $10 million claim against Sacramento County. Both were rejected. DeArkland also filed a claim with his insurance firm, CGU of Boston, estimating that the plants were worth about $20,500. DeArkland said he based his estimate on police figures that each mature plant would produce four ounces of dried marijuana worth $400 an ounce. Insurer balked At first the firm was skeptical, writing him that his insurance contract applied "only if it is not obviously illegal, immoral or against the public good." "It appears the Placer County Sheriff's Department used a valid search warrant to confiscate the plants, which may not be the same as stealing the plants," an adjustor wrote him. But the firm relented after DeArkland showed he had medical approval and, by July, the only issue was the plants' value. "I realize the value at maturity approximates $20,500," wrote adjustor L. Bruce Bogart. "However the plants were not at maturity. Thus, we need to try to agree on a value . . ." On Aug. 19, the firm sent DeArkland a check for $6,500, after deciding to cover the plants under the shrubbery clause of his policy, which provides a maximum payment of $500 per plant. Bogart declined to comment on the case, saying only that he knew of no other claims paid for medical marijuana. "I'm quite happy with the insurance company," said DeArkland. By Seth Rosenfeld OF THE EXAMINER STAFF Tuesday, September 7, 1999 ©1999 San Francisco Examiner Pot Seizure Brings Insurance Reimbursement - 9/03/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread2745.shtml
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Comment #5 posted by Ally on September 07, 1999 at 18:35:30 PT
Agreed with above
 I think it is great that it was covered under his homeowner's! I mean that is certainly one for our side!Hemp, Hemp, Hooray!!! Shalom, Ally
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on September 07, 1999 at 16:46:14 PT
A Little More Info.
They are selling Pot to Canada from the Mississippi Farm, I think. I've been looking for another article I posted on this and it was about how the price will not be set on street prices but I haven't found it yet. If I do I'll post it. This articles is basic and the pubdate is the date of the article. I wasn't putting in all the details way back then.Peace, FoMhttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread1594.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by Doctor Dave on September 07, 1999 at 14:46:56 PT
Free Pot from Federal Government
The pot supplied by the Federal Government (only government-approved pot in U.S.) is supplied for free, so I don't know how one could derive cost information from that. $280 per ounce for Grade AA medical pot is dirt cheap (no pun intended :) -- if State Farm can tell me where to get it that cheap I'd like to hear about it!Doctor Dave"Freedom has nothing to fear from the truth." - Richard Cowan
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on September 07, 1999 at 14:31:29 PT
Not Sure
At State Farm's headquarters in Bloomington, Ill., spokesman Phil Supple said the firm paid its Washington claimant for his stolen pot in May, after seeing a letter from his doctor. The firm reimbursed him about $280 per ounce for his "Grade AA" pot and $200 an ounce for his "Grade A" pot, after checking prices with the state's officially recognized supplier of medical marijuana. I copied this paragraph and I wonder if they mean the Government Farn in Mississippi? But if they don't mean Mississippi where is a recognized supplier in Illinois?Good Question Doctor Dave!Peace, FoM!
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Comment #1 posted by Doctor Dave on September 07, 1999 at 14:07:07 PT
Official Pot Prices?
I had to smile when I saw this made the FRONT PAGE of the SF Examiner :-)However, what does "after checking prices with the state's officially recognized supplier of medical marijuana" mean? I didn't realize CA had one officially recognized supplier of pot -- unless you count the ditchweed the federal government provides to eight patients in the IND program. But they get their pot for free.Anyone have any ideas on this?Doctor Dave"A nation that makes war on huge numbers of its own people can never truly be free."
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