Date: Fri, 01 Oct 1999
Subject: Medical MJ: Going After The Insurance Industry
DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 128 September 26, 1999
Medical MJ: Going after the Insurance Industry
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DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 128 September 26, 1999
Medical MJ: Going after the Insurance Industry
Here’s a great project that takes just minutes and will have a huge
impact on implementing medical marijuana laws and helping patients.
You don’t even have to address the email. Just hit the link below, and
tell all those decision making corporate executives at State Farm
Corporate Headquarters what you think about them standing behind the
valid policy claims of their clients for medical marijuana destroyed
by police:
–Tell them how unnecessary claims are going to increase because of
police misconduct.
–Tell them that the 5.3 million Californians who voted for medical
marijuana will be voting again on this issue when they buy insurance
and this time they’ll be voting with their checkbooks.
With YOUR help, the Insurance Industry will do what politicians have
failed to do and make sure that medical marijuana laws are followed by
police.
Right now, Steve Kubby is trying to get State Farm Insurance to pay on
his claim for a six month supply of medicine that was destroyed. You
can help Steve and pave the way for other patients by communicating
your thoughts about this issue directly to State Farm’s Corporate
Offices at: http://www.statefarm.com/email.htm.
A copy of Steve’s letter to State Farm is enclosed below. Thanks for
your effort and support.
SEND A MESSAGE TODAY
It’s not what others do it’s what YOU do
**********************************************************************
PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID ( Letter,
Phone, fax etc.)
Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the MAPTalk
list if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to
MGreer@mapinc.org Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with
so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit
This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is the only way we have of gauging our
impact and effectiveness.
**********************************************************************
CONTACT INFO
E-mail: http://www.statefarm.com/email.htm
Phone: Public relations, Josh Youngrick 661-663-2771
Letters: Edward B. Rust Jr.
Chairman and CEO
State Farm Insurance
One State Farm Plaza
Bloomington, IL 61710
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COPY OF STEVE KUBBY’S LETTER TO STATE FARM
September 22, 1999
Mark Morrison, Claim Representative
State Farm Insurance Company
P.O. Box 10199
Truckee, CA 96162
RE: Claim Number: 05-A683-370
Dear Mr. Morrison,
According to your letter of August 18, 1999, I am not entitled to
compensation for the medical marijuana that was stolen from me and
destroyed. However, on September 7, 1999, the San Francisco Examiner
published an article saying that insurance companies, including State
Farm ARE paying compensation in cases such as mine.
I am a legal medical marijuana patient who can provide medical
documentation that I have a life and death necessity for medical
marijuana, as documented by the University of Southern California
Medical Center.
I also meet the standards of a recent decision by the 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals, which found that patients who have exhausted all
other medical remedies should be legally immune from marijuana laws,
including federal laws.
Medical marijuana is now the law under the Compassionate Use Act of
1996 and the medical marijuana which was stolen from me and destroyed
was my legal property. Just because the local police failed to obey
California’s new Compassionate Use Act, is no excuse for you and State
Farm to evade your responsibilities to your policy holders, ESPECIALLY
if they are cancer patients, such as myself.
What happened to me is no different than if someone stole a patient’s
insulin and nearly killed them as a result. My life-saving medicine
was destroyed and I expect State Farm to compensate me.
Incidentally, the United States government provides each of its eight
medical marijuana patients with seven pounds per year. My 3.5 pounds
may seem excessive to you, but it represented a six month supply of
the only medicine that has kept me alive.
Although I had 200 plants destroyed, I am willing to make a quick
settlement for the total amount of medicine stolen at the time, 3.5
pounds, which I estimate to be worth $21,000. Otherwise, I will
expect $500 per plant or $100,000.
As someone who played a key role in the passage of the Compassionate
Use Act, I intend to see that State Farm provides full compensation to
documented patients when their medical marijuana is destroyed.
State Farm has a responsibility to honor the newly recognized legal
rights of medical marijuana patients. You can begin by immediately
honoring our claim for real losses which I have suffered and to which
I am entitled and that our claim for $21,000 be paid promptly.
My family and I deserve to be promptly and fully protected by the
policy we purchased from State Farm. I look forward to your
cooperation on this matter, but I will take further action if this
claim is not completely resolved by October 21, 1999.
Sincerely,
s/Steve Kubby
Mark Greer Executive Director DrugSense MGreer@mapinc.org
http://www.drugsense.org http://www.mapinc.org
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