Can you get life insurance if you smoke pot?

It is the leaves and stems of the Cannabis Sativa plant or Marijuana that is smoked, vaped, eaten and consumed as a tea and is today very controversial as to its use.

There is research that points to marijuana, or pot as is called, as a substance that gives pain relief to those suffering from cancer and mental relief for those suffering from some mental conditions.

Marijuana is also used as a recreational drug, which is illegal from a federal standpoint, but legal in some states as a medicinal drug.

Marijuana can bring on a feeling of high euphoria when smoked, inhaled or taken internally by other methods. It can cause changes in mood, a relaxation feeling, and calmness.

Other effects can occur that are not so pleasant. Pot can produce hallucinations, feelings of panic, difficulty in concentrating, heart rate increase, decreased interest in completing various tasks, and problems with coordination.

There can also be problems when people come down off of a “high” such as depression and a feeling of extreme fatigue.

There is also research that when marijuana is used by teens, there occurs an aberration in the development of the brain.

Marijuana smoking has the same physical and lung issues as smoking tobacco, yet marijuana has been known to raise the heart rate to 20 to 100 percent.

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Marijuana Effects on Society and Ramifications of Individuals

It is often claimed that the use of marijuana is a precursor to the use of other, more destructive drugs. In fact, the majority of marijuana users do not go on to use more illicit and more powerful drugs.

Even though pot does cause drug-like results like a stupor, and inabilities to perform many functions normally, it is a small percentage that does move on to stronger drugs.

The ingredients of marijuana have little to do with the craving for more advanced drugs, and it is the societal exposure to a marijuana user that has the most influence on a pot smoker.

For example, if the person who is supplying a pot smoker with his supply offers another drug to “try” then the pot user might be influenced to use the other drug.

The environmental aspect of the pot user would be the primary influence and opportunity for an individual to use harder drugs.

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What is the View of Life Insurance Company on Insuring Pot Smokers?

Like most situations, how a life insurance company judges the use of marijuana as far as underwriting a policy, the final result is measured by degrees.

The honor system is in full use here, as one of the primary questions that are asked on a life insurance application is how often does an applicant use marijuana?

Many life insurance companies will classify a pot user as a non-smoker if they use the substance very infrequently.

Moreover, the underwriters will look at the surrounding circumstances that affect the marijuana user while he is consuming the drug.

If it used while driving, working farm equipment while piloting an airplane? What is the overall risk in which a person places himself or herself while using marijuana?

If a person uses marijuana for medical purposes, such as for pain relief or to reduce nausea, then that individual will be evaluated for the underlying condition rather than solely for the use of the marijuana.

This is becoming more and more the view of medical marijuana, as additional states approve the medical use of the drug.

Does marijuana usage cause any other medical problems?

A recent study conducted by the journal “Mutation Research – Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis, it was stated that sustained use of marijuana causes certain cancers due to the marijuana changing the DNA of a person by the chemicals in the cannabis interactions.

The mutations that occur can be passed down from generation to generation and cause severe problems.

These mutations can be passed on by the sperm of a father, even though a mother had never used marijuana at all.

It was noted in the study that serious and fatal diseases and illness could be shown in future generations and traced back to marijuana use by their forebearers.

The study goes on to say that these chemical interactions can cause cells in a fetus to grow more slowly, and the baby’s fetal development can be affected. Cancer can be the result, as well as the improper growth of limbs and vital organs of the fetus.

Pot and the Brain

As additional observations and studies are correlated, it has been found that teenagers who used pot in their youth, have decidedly lower IQ’s when the grow older.

Some people who are more susceptible to schizophrenia could have their brain functions modified in negative ways by excessive use of marijuana.

Some of the long-term effects when researchers compare people who have used marijuana excessively to non-pot users show a reduction of the volumes of gray matter or the orbitofrontal cortex in their brains.

A study of rats showed that excess marijuana use caused a loss of memory because of the hippocampus, the areas of the brain that helps to form memory are altered.

While these factors are alarming, there is not sufficient evidence to suggest that they have any long-term affect on mortality. This is probably why life insurance underwriters don’t place any more emphasis on rating people just for pot smoking.

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The Future Of Marijuana Use and Life Insurance Underwriting

Marijuana use and the underwritingof a life insurance policy is likely to remain the same, in that the insurance industry sees no more issue with the habit than they do smoking tobacco.

And some life companies give pot smokers a non-smoking rate if their use of pot is small, such as usage of once or twice per week.

The key to it all is to ascertain how often a person uses pot, how it is consumed, such as smoking, vaping, eating or brewing as a tea.

More states are allowing recreational pot usage, and the frequency of use and the conditions in which it is used is the key.

On the other hand, people who grow and sell marijuana are being declined because this currently runs afoul of federal regulations and creates possible money laundering problems.

In Conclusion

Pot users are not rated or deprived of purchasing life insurance unless they have a criminal record in selling it illegally, or the have an underlying disease.

Whether or not pot may have caused the disease seems to be immaterial, as the evidence of that does not seem to be too compelling.

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