With the date for Canadian cannabis legalization rapidly approaching, there are still a lot of moving parts for the insurance industry to prepare for.
Mark Woodall, president and CEO of Special Risk Insurance Managers (SRIM) in Langley, BC, said the learning curve for Canadian insurance professionals is going to be steep – because it’s happening everywhere all at once.
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“When [insurers] were dealing with the US, they had individual states come on board with defined rulings for defined operations,” he said. “And they also had the opportunity – I think it was Colorado first, and Washington second – so Washington could look at the mistakes Colorado made and try and close the gaps. We have one country going live on the same date, with potentially 10 different sets of rules.
“It’s a steep learning curve. And that date is rolling on us so fast – it’s getting very concerning how quickly it’s moving forward. Basically, the Canadian Government is legalizing the process, and … the 10 provinces have multiple different interpretations as to the best methods available.”
So, Woodall said, distribution will differ in provinces; edibles may be allowed in some provinces but not others; possession may differ; and Quebec, for example, won’t allow anyone to grow for personal use.
One of the biggest issues is the matter of not knowing how big the consumer market will be, and how fast it may grow, Woodall said.
“Right now the numbers are showing there is approximately a quarter-million users maintaining prescriptions,” he explained. “They are anticipating, in the first year, for that number to potentially exceed three million users. So that’s over 10 times the numbers, almost instantly.”
SRIM, an MGA, writes insurance for growers, manufacturers, and dispensaries. The next few months will involve a lot of research and fine-tuning, Woodall said, to try to get things right for the launch date.
“We’re spending a great deal of time on the learning curve, looking at Washington state, looking at California, looking at Colorado, to see what was done, how it was done, trying to identify pitfalls and mistakes previously made, to see if we can overcome them,” he said. “We’re having to look at all of our wordings, because will our wordings need to be modified, corrected, adjusted?
“We’re trying to convince underwriters to write the product, to be leaders. A lot of people want to sit back and wait a year and then come in. But the question is: can we wait the year, or as a market do we have to be leaders? And as a specialty insurer we have to be a leader.”
There’s a lot of moving parts, but not a lot of time to sort it all out.
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