Marijuana Life Insurance
How to Get Insured in 2023

A recent survey commissioned by Forbes found that 56% of people would lie about their marijuana use to avoid paying higher life insurance rates!

Those are staggering life insurance statistics, but completely unnecessary.

You don’t need to lie in 2022 because we have 17 life insurance companies that don’t care if you use marijuana.

Underwriters only care about how much marijuana you use.

Whether you smoke pot, use edibles, pills, oils, tinctures, etc., non-smoker life insurance rates are available.

That goes for medicinal or recreational marijuana use.

Does Medical Marijuana Use Affect Life Insurance?

As of this writing, 37 states, four territories, and Washington D.C. have legalized medical marijuana use.^[1]

Most life insurance companies recognize this and will underwrite your application based on your medical condition.

Term, universal life and whole life insurance policies are available.

Medical marijuana use does not affect life insurance in most cases unless you vape medical marijuana.

Your underlying health condition is the driver of your underwriting rate.

And we see medical marijuana cases for all ages from young adults to seniors.

But don’t take our word for it. Here’s what Prudential says about medicinal marijuana.

When prescribed by, or taken under the direction of, a physician, any rating assessed will generally be based on the underlying condition, not the actual use of the medicinal marijuana.

Rx for Success – Marijuana – Prudential 08/2021

A positive THC level for medical marijuana use is acceptable with life insurance companies.

Medical marijuana becomes a problem only when it is not admitted on the application.

How does medical marijuana underwriting work?

When you complete your application and paramed exam, you’ll be asked about your prescriptions and medical conditions, whether you’re replacing existing coverage, etc.

If you have a medical marijuana card, indicate that with your application.

Life insurers may ask for a copy of your marijuana card or request medical records related to the prescription. The underwriter will also base your price on whatever medical condition you have.

What happens when you don’t disclose your medical marijuana prescription?

Like most prescription drugs, insurance companies can access prescription databases and learn of your prescription if not admitted on the application.

You may get declined before you even get the chance to explain your situation.

Chances are that you will be caught from a positive THC lab result, notes in your physician’s medical records, or information in prescription databases.

There’s no need to hide medical marijuana use as it has no impact on your application unless it is vaped. In that situation we need to work with a few specific carriers as some will consider you as a smoker.

Does Recreational Marijuana Use Affect Life Insurance?

Marijuana use is gaining in popularity, with an estimated 48.2 million users ^[2] in the United States.

Seventeen states plus Washington D.C. and Guam, have legalized recreational marijuana use.^[3]

Recreational marijuana use has little effect on most life insurance applicants if you follow these three rules:

1. Tell us how often you use marijuana.
2. Answer “yes” on the life insurance application that you use marijuana.
3. Stop using marijuana long enough to provide a negative lab sample.

We have 17 life insurance companies that will give you non-tobacco life insurance rates if you use recreational marijuana.

You’ll be glad to know that most life insurance riders and death benefit settlement options are not limited due to marijuana use.

But don’t try to get coverage through the Costco Life or the AICPA life insurance programs as you’ll probably be disappointed with the outcome.

It doesn’t matter if you smoke pot or use edibles. The same rules apply.

Let us know if you use other forms of tobacco such as cigars, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco as we may still have non-smoker rates available.

If you smoke cigarettes, smoker rates apply.

We’ll ensure you get the best non-tobacco life insurance rate available if you do the above.

How Often Do You Get High?

Life insurance companies determine your rate based on how often you use recreational marijuana…the more often you use, the more expensive it gets.

Occasional Recreational Marijuana Use

Occasional marijuana users qualify for the best life insurance rates with the right insurance companies.

It’s no big deal from a life insurance standpoint as long as you admit the occasional use on your application and ensure that your lab results are negative for THC.

Monthly Recreational Marijuana Users

If you use marijuana monthly, the best life insurance rates may still be available with some life insurers.

You can use marijuana up to 8x per month and still qualify for a preferred plus rate with one company.

Weekly Recreational Marijuana Users

If you use marijuana weekly, just remember that you’ll need to stop long enough to provide negative lab results.

As long as you can, preferred and possibly preferred life insurance rates are still available.

Daily Recreational Marijuana Users

Here’s the deal. If you use recreational marijuana every day of the month, many companies will decline you.

If you don’t use marijuana every single day, then you are not a daily marijuana user, right?

The underwriting rules become more involved. Companies will ask for a full drug history questionnaire, and most offers you receive will include a table rating that adds 50-100% to a standard rate.

Only one company allows positive THC lab results for their non-smoker rate.

The rest require a negative lab result for non-smoker rates.

How close to daily use can you be?

Here are some excerpts from marijuana life insurance underwriting guides:

• More than 8x per month but less than daily = standard plus rate – negative labs
• Daily – Table B-D assuming no social or occupational impairment – negative labs
• Daily – Standard Non-Tobacco rates as long as you are age 31 or older – negative labs
• Up to 20x per month – Table 4 rate. 21x per month is a decline – negative labs
• 16x per month – Table 2 rate. 17x per month is a decline – negative labs
• Up to 6x per week – Table D. 7x per week is a decline – negative labs
• 6x per week – Table B. 7x per week is a decline – positive labs are ok

We’ll tell you exactly what to expect with each life insurance company’s quotes.

How Long Does Marijuana Stay in Your System

First, the following information is based on estimates, as many factors may determine how long marijuana stays in your system. It’s up to you to make sure your lab results are negative.

Most companies use urine tests for life insurance to detect Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in your sample.

The duration of time that THC remains in your system may vary based on:

• Frequency of marijuana use
• Concentration levels of THC in marijuana you use
• Your body weight and fat – THC is stored in fat
• How you consume marijuana – smoke vs. edibles, etc.

Approximate timeframes for marijuana in your system:

• Single-use – may stay in your system for 3-4 days
• 4x per week – 5-7days
• Daily use – 10-15 days
• Chronic heavy use – 30+ days

Hair tests for marijuana may detect marijuana for 90 days +/-, and it may even detect THC from secondhand marijuana smoke.

Blood tests show THC for 3-4 hours, and saliva tests may show THC for 24 hours.

Make sure you give yourself enough time to provide a negative sample for the life insurers that require it.

What Happens When You Lie About Marijuana?

There may be serious consequences for the applicant and/or beneficiaries claiming life insurance proceeds.

First off, there’s no need to lie because we’re going to put together affordable options for you at rates that rival the rates paid by people who don’t use marijuana.

But if you want to know the potential consequences, here they are:

Contestable Life Insurance Policy – Most states give life insurance companies a 2-year window to contest a policy if it contains false statements or material representations.

In this day and age of no exam life insurance policies, you can bet that companies will review everything before paying your spouse or ex-spouse that $500k life insurance policy!

When someone lies on a life insurance application, many states consider it a crime, and your policy may be contested.

We’re not talking about subtracting 5 pounds from your build, but intentionally hiding health issues.

If you die during the contestability period, the life insurance company will investigate before paying the claim…and even if marijuana had nothing to do with your death, your beneficiaries might be in for a fight.

Insurance Fraud – It’s a crime if you intentionally submit material misrepresentations, conceal material facts or try to defraud an insurance company.

You can be subjected to fines and confinement in state prison for committing insurance fraud.

The bottom line is to be truthful with your application because we’ll help you get a great rate.

What Happens if You Don’t Admit Marijuana Use?

Whether for medical or recreational use, if you don’t admit marijuana use on your life insurance application, life insurers will decline you when they receive the lab results showing positive for THC.

If you have a medical marijuana card, we may be able to get the insurance company to reopen your file.

For recreational users, we’ll need to apply with a new life insurance company and you need to admit marijuana use.

Keep in mind that if your application has been declined, the Medical Information Bureau will have records of your prior application history in their files.

Life Insurance for Marijuana Industry Workers

If you work in the marijuana industry, you may find it very difficult to obtain life insurance.

Most life insurers will not provide coverage to you if you work in the cannabis industry.

That includes jobs such as:

• Owners of growing facilities and retail stores
• Cultivation, growing, marijuana trimming occupations
• Lab workers, chemists, extraction workers
• Retail workers, managers, warehouse employees

Essentially any job connected to the marijuana industry may be difficult to gain coverage, until now.

The big reason life insurance for marijuana industry workers is problematic is that federal laws still consider marijuana an illegal substance.

The result is that banks and insurance companies are restricted from working with money derived from the marijuana industry.

The good news is that legislation is slowly making its way through the House and Senate that may loosen these restrictions.

For now, though, here is what we have available for you.

Accidental death insurance is not as good as a traditional life insurance policy since it only covers accidental death.

However, we have a company that will provide you up to 10x your annual income for your life insurance needs.

For marijuana business owners, we have a company that will offer life insurance for key person, buy-sell, and business loans that need collateral assignments.

We can obtain a 2-year term life insurance policy with no conversion privilege, and a maximum death benefit of $25 million!

And while it’s not as long as the 40-year term policies we have for other occupations such as police officers, it’s a start.

As legislation evolves and acceptance improves, we expect other companies to become available.

Final Words

Getting life insurance if you use marijuana should not be a problem if you follow our underwriting advice.

Please take a few minutes to get a life insurance quote today. Thank you.

References

[1] National Conference of State Legislatures – https://www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-medical-marijuana-laws.aspx – reviewed 5-7-2022

[2] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – https://www.cdc.gov/marijuana/index.htm – reviewed 5-7-2022

[3] U.S. News & World Report – https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/where-is-marijuana-legal-a-guide-to-marijuana-legalization – reviewed 5-7-2022

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By Michael Horbal – Updated on 01/28/2023