The cannabis market continues to buck trends seen across many other industries with its impressive growth projections.

According to Forbes, the US marijuana market will nearly double in value between now and 2026 from $26 billion to $50 billion, with annual growth of between 20 to 30 percent.

These are impressive numbers, but they don’t come without risk.

More money on the table means more hands looking to grab some of the action. That’s why claims and lawsuits against marijuana businesses are becoming more common.

These canna-businesses are especially vulnerable to legal measures, given the federal prohibition of cannabis.

Not just because marijuana businesses still operate in a legal gray zone, caught between state and federal law, which means jurisprudence is evolving rapidly. It’s also because many canna-businesses operate on fine margins since the federal prohibition of marijuana makes it impossible for these companies to benefit from standard tax deductions available to businesses in traditional industries.

This, coupled with a lawsuit, could easily bring a marijuana business to its knees.

To protect your marijuana business, you need to mitigate against risk. To do that, you need broad coverage from an insurance provider with cannabis-specific experience.

Here are five types of insurance you should give some serious thought to.

1. General Liability

One of the most basic but essential forms of insurance coverage is general liability. Having this protects your business from a range of claims concerning personal injury, property damage, libel, slander and copyright infringement, among others.

Often, general liability is not required in order to receive a marijuana business license, so many business owners decide not to bother and save the cash.

The trouble is that all it takes is one lawsuit and you could be liable to pay for huge medical bills and damage to property of third-parties, on top of exorbitant legal fees and fines.

A fully-comprehensive, marijuana-specific general liability policy will ensure your insurance provider foots these bills.

2. Product Liability/Product Recall

Any business owner can be sued for selling a product that causes harm to someone. The harm in question can be severe or modest, and can be attributed to defective products, contamination, false advertising or mislabeling, among other reasons.

Product liability and product recall claims are becoming more common, both from single plaintiffs and in the form of class action lawsuits.

The cannabis industry, as one that is emerging, is still finding its feet in terms of industry-wide standards and regulations. This makes marijuana businesses vulnerable to product liability claims.

Dealing with a product recall or liability claim is a mammoth undertaking. Aside from the litigation involved, you will also have to work on regulatory compliance, distributing product warnings, recalling products, investigating the matter, product testing and carrying out risk assessments. This all adds up quickly.

While many small to mid-size marijuana businesses don’t seek product liability coverage, any business that sells goods to the public really should have such a policy in place.

Issues with marijuana products can arise at any point of the supply chain and while you may not be at fault per se, you can be held liable.

Comprehensive, marijuana-specific product liability and recall insurance coverage means your insurance company will step in to pay in if you are sued on account of harms caused by a cannabis product you sold. This includes your own legal expenses as well as potential medical expenses of the claimant.

3. Property and Casualty Insurance

Marijuana businesses, whether a farm, a retailer or a testing facility, tend to have inventory on site.

Should you lose this inventory due to theft, fire, an explosion, or suchlike, you’ve lost what gives your company value. While your first layer of protection is to physically secure your business premises as best you can, having property and casualty insurance safeguards your business against these risks should the worst happen.

Property and casualty insurance coverage can also extend to include damage to other assets your business has, such as furniture and computers, which are essential to the functioning of your company.

Not only that, property and casualty insurance policies can also pay to keep your business running while you try and get things back on track.

4. Cyber Defense/Data Breach Insurance

Cyber fraud and data breaches are an increasingly common threat to marijuana businesses.

From small to large cannabis enterprises, cybersecurity is crucial but not all marijuana businesses afford it the importance it requires.

Retail sales of cannabis involves a long chain of vendors and intermediaries sharing sensitive information, from seed to sale, and each link in that chain is a potential security risk.

If an investigation into a cybercrime finds your business was negligent with third-party information, then that third party could sue you and the SEC could also issue hefty fines. Meanwhile, your own sensitive data could have been used to siphon off funds from your business.

Without cyber defense and data breach insurance, you will be liable to pay these legal bills, fines and damages, as well as cover your own losses.

These threats will only increase in intensity in the future, so it’s important to anticipate the risk and make sure you’re covered.

5. Directors and Officers Insurance

This type of insurance coverage is a little more obscure but no less essential if your canna-business is looking to secure venture capital/investor funding or entice high-caliber leadership into your operation.

In essence, directors and officers (D&O) insurance ensures directors and officers, as well as their families and estates, can not be held personally liable should your business be sued by a third-party for claims of mismanagement.

Should such a lawsuit be filed, your D&O insurance will pay legal fees and fines, as well as any potential settlements.

This type of insurance coverage is the least common among canna-businesses because so many are run independently, and many small business owners don’t like to consider the possibility of operational failures or mismanagement! But allegations of this nature needn’t be legitimate to inflict serious pain.

What’s more, forgoing D&O insurance essentially means forgoing a vision of growth for your business. Leading executive talent won’t be attracted to work for a business whose failure they can be held personally liable for, nor will serious investors put their money in a business without such protection.