General Liability Insurance
General liability is the foundation of any cannabis business insurance program. It protects against third-party claims of injury or property damage arising from your premises and operations.
General Liability for Cannabis Businesses
Whether you run a dispensary, a cultivation facility, or a processing lab, customers, vendors, and visitors come onto your property. General liability (GL) responds when someone is injured or their property is damaged because of your operations — a slip-and-fall at the retail counter, a delivery driver hurt at your loading dock, or damage to a neighboring tenant's space.
Why Cannabis Needs Specialty Markets
Cannabis remains federally illegal, so the vast majority of standard insurance carriers refuse to write the risk — or quietly exclude it. As a broker, we place your GL with specialty and surplus-lines carriers that openly underwrite licensed cannabis operations and won't deny a claim on a "controlled substance" technicality.
What GL Covers
- Bodily injury: Third-party injuries on your premises or caused by your operations
- Property damage: Damage you cause to a landlord's building or a neighbor's property
- Personal & advertising injury: Libel, slander, and certain advertising claims
- Premises liability: Slip-and-falls and other on-site accidents
- Medical payments: Minor injuries handled without a lawsuit
Lease and License Requirements
Commercial landlords and many state and municipal cannabis licenses require proof of general liability — commonly $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate, with the landlord named as additional insured. We issue certificates and additional insured endorsements quickly so you can stay compliant.
What's Covered
Frequently Asked Questions
Almost never. Because cannabis is federally illegal, standard carriers exclude it or void coverage at claim time. We place your GL with specialty carriers that knowingly write licensed cannabis risk.
$1M/$2M is the common baseline required by landlords and many license authorities. Larger operators and MSOs often carry higher limits or add an umbrella. We tailor limits to your lease and license requirements.