Do you smoke or use marijuana, or cannabis? Are you concerned about how that may impact your life insurance premiums?
Good news — in most cases, use of marijuana does not impact your life insurance premiums. You are likely to receive standard, non-smoker life insurance rates from most companies. I'll lay out the common practices, and the exceptions where marijuana may not receive standard nonsmoker premiums.
How companies treat marijuana use
- Smoking marijuana — if you smoke marijuana joints recreationally, you should expect standard non-smoker premiums. 2-5 times a week (roughly) is generally treated as non-smoking by most life insurance companies. Above that amount, and expect it to be reviewed on a case by case basis, as the intention is to provide standard premiums to 'recreational' users and higher uses stray from that objective. Note that carriers generally have a specific amount in grams that is considered recreational, and that amount may vary mildly by carrier.
- Gummies / orally — Like smoking, if you take gummies or other oral methods, expect non-smoking premiums as long as the amount you take would reasonably be assumed to be recreational.
- Higher / more frequent uses — if you're using marijuana in any form but daily, and perhaps heavily, a rating (higher premium) should be expected. However we've found that in these situations there are generally other factors causing the heavy use of marijuana, and those other factors are likely to cause higher premiums on their own. For example, if you are using marijuana for pain management then the underlying cause of the pain is likely to be the cause of any additional premiums or ratings. In those cases, the rating for the underlying cause is going to be the rating that applies, the use of marijuana will be incidental (to be clear, you should expect a rating, it just won't be because of marijuana, it'll be because of 'why' you're using the marijuana).
- Vaping — Vaping marijuana can lead to higher or smoking premiums because of concerns about the contest of the vape. Vapes are often unregulated, but have been shown to contain all manner of bad things.
- Joints mixed with tobacco — any use of tobacco alongside marijuana will result in smoking premiums. That's entirely due to the use of the tobacco, not the marijuana. Fortunately, while this used to be commonplace, these days with most people using joints purchased from government approved facilities, we've seen that mixing of tobacco in joints has become pretty uncommon.
The end result is that if you are using marijuana recreationally and on its own, then today you can expect to receive standard non-smoking premiums. If you are rated as the result of marijuana, then it's likely because of other associated factors and not just the marijuana.
Why marijuana used to get smoking premiums
Before marijuana was legal in Canada, marijuana users used to receive smoking premiums. That was not because they were treated as tobacco smokers, or would contract cancer like a heavy tobacco smoker. It's because marijuana usage is associated with some insurability issues (like some nervous disorders) and previously it also meant association with criminal-minded folks (yeah yeah, it's just marijuana, nobody was running with biker gangs to get a joint, I'm just telling you the rationale :) ). Assigning smoking premiums wasn't because of the association with tobacco, it's just because those smoking premiums roughly lined up with the premiums justified by the marijuana use and it was easier to explain 'smoking' premiums than it was to explain the actual rating.
Today any association with criminal elements is gone — heck, you can grow it in your backyard — but the association with nervous disorders still exists. I have heard underwriters suggest that the statistics suggest marijuana users should be still charged an additional premium, but fortunately doing so just isn't tenable in Canada. Marijuana usage is too widely spread that charging extra for it's use would just mean the company doesn't sell any life insurance. Based on that, marijuana users are actually getting a bit of a deal :).