Cannabis Conundrum: The Intersection of Property/Casualty Insurance and Cannabis-Impaired Driving

Setting the scene

Every year, more than 30 million drivers across the United States are stopped by police for potential traffic violations. Drivers have grown accustomed to police scripts asking for a license and registration and about alcohol use, but soon they may find themselves answering an entirely new set of questions during these interactions: “Have you had any cannabis today? How much? What kind? Was it for medical use?”

The proliferation of cannabis legalization and its widespread medical and recreational use by millions of Americans presents a host of new challenges for law enforcement, public safety officials, lawmakers at all levels of government, and property/ casualty insurers. Cannabis1, legal for either medical or recreational use in 36 states and Washington, D.C., as of April 20212, has created a public policy labyrinth with a tangled web of unique state and local laws, regulations, and guidelines governing cultivation, manufacture, distribution, food safety, sale, storage, use, and cannabis-impaired driving, among many others. While neither a supplier nor an end user, the insurance industry still finds itself squarely in the middle of this complex legal landscape, with many more questions than answers, and it must think through the best ways to be a good partner in the development of practical public policy solutions moving forward.