skip to main content

We may earn money when you click on our links. Learn More

Icon Close  Light

Call Today! 888-234-8376

Life Insurance for Marijuana Users

Researcher & Writer
April 06, 2020

Certain marijuana friendly top rated best life insurance companies will offer up to preferred plus rates. Other companies will decline you outright. You need to apply with the right company from the start or you could be setting yourself up for failure.

The following article details out the keys to getting life insurance for marijuana users. 

Life Insurance Approval with Recreational Marijuana Use or Prescription Marijuana Use

Can you get life insurance if you use marijuana? The quick answer is,yes, life insurance is available for marijuana users with or without a prescription. In other words, recreational marijuana users can obtain life insurance without having to hide their usage. 

Find the Most Marijuana Friendly Life Insurance Carrier

Call today: 888-234-8376

In the following article we will attempt to point out all the potential roadblocks that a marijuana user buying life insurance will face. We realize that a around 12% of the population has smoked marijuana, so there are a lot of you out there. However, you do not need to go it alone. Our partners are skilled at placing  clients that use cannabis with the most appropriate company based on each carriers unique underwriting guidelines.

What is the key to getting a preferred rate class when using marijuana?

The key to obtaining the cheapest life insurance is knowing which marijuana friendly life insurance company to choose. That might ring painfully true to those who have already been declined for life insurance due to marijuana use. The key is having options. We work with many of the best life insurance companies ranked for each companies specific niche met.

We have found that the following companies tend to be the most marijuana friendly:

But one should be aware that, just because one company is more lenient for marijuana use does not mean that is the company to apply with.

Many of these companies will each have their own rules and regulations when it comes to determining who they "feel" will be an acceptable risk.  Which means that the results that you'll get on your application can vary greatly depending on if you're a:

  • Daily user vs an occasional user.
  • Recreational vs prescribed user.
  • And how you choose to use your marijuana, edible vs smoke/vape.

Your overall health and lifestyle will ultimately determine who the right company is for you. 

Guide to Obtaining the Best Policy for Marijuana Users

Step 1: Disclose Your Usage to Your Agent

The first step is being straightforward with your life insurance agent and letting them know you do use marijuana.

A life insurance drug test does check for marijuana or THC. The last thing you want is to not disclose your marijuana use and pop positive on a life insurance medical exam.

The life insurance urine test will detect marijuana, in addition to the presence of other drugs.

Not divulging your use could jeopardize your chances of getting the best rate class in addition to putting the life insurance company on alert that you may have not disclosed other important information.

Step 2: Disclose How Often You Use

From there, you will need to determine how often you partake of marijuana or cannabis to know what rate class you can expect to receive from the various life insurance carriers who underwrite marijuana users.

Unfortunately, life insurance companies do not currently differentiate between smoking marijuana, using a vaporizer or ingesting marijuana.

Hopefully, in the near future marijuana life insurance companies will begin to rate various users differently depending on how they partake of marijuana.

Step 3: Disclose Your Reason for Using Marijuana

A carrier will want to know if you are being prescribed the drug. The main factor to consider for those clients looking for life insurance with prescriptions for medical marijuana will be the underlying reason for the prescription.

Obviously, there is a big difference between taking medical marijuana for glaucoma compared to taking medical marijuana for cancer.

In summary, the following questions will need to be answered in order for us to place you with the most suitable marijuana friendly life insurance company:

  • Is your marijuana use for recreational or medicinal purposes?
    • If medicinal, what is the underlying health condition and severity of the condition being treated?
  • How often do you use marijuana?
  • What is your method of use, i.e. smoked, ingested, inhaled, etc…

Marijuana Life Insurance Rate Classes

One of the most frequently asked questions we get is how does marijuana affect life insurance rates. If you only use marijuana a couple times a year (2 times) than you can qualify at a preferred best rate class.

Currently, the companies offering a preferred best rate class are very strict about that 2 times a year rule. Since life insurance companies test for THC, if it shows up in your urine you will not qualify for this rate class.

And what about those who are not so healthy? For example, clients looking for life insurance but are diabetic. There have actually been studies showing marijuana use can benefit people with diabetes. If you are diabetic, you use marijuana, and you are looking for life insurance, give us a call today to see what we can do for you.

Here is our marijuana life insurance exam tip:

If you are an occasional user (not defined) you can qualify at a preferred rate class as long as your urine comes back negative for traces of THC. The life insurance carrier figures that if your urine shows the presence of THC than you are not an occasional user. Typical estimates for how long marijuana can be detected are around 13 days, but there are reports of some people having came back positive for marijuana as far out as 90 days, so be careful!

If you use marijuana only twice a month then you can receive a standard plus rate class. You will need to list your use on the application because life insurance applications ask about drug use, i.e. marijuana. And as mentioned above, life insurance companies do test for marijuana.

If you use marijuana once a week you can still receive a standard rate class. However, if you use daily, then chances are you will receive a tobacco rate class even if you do not smoke marijuana but only use a vaporizer or ingest it.

If I Admit Drug Use Can I Be Prosecuted?

Life insurance companies are governed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). HIPAA rules and regulations prevent the life insurance companies from divulging your information. Further, life insurance companies want clients to be honest so setting a precedent of telling on their clients would make business dry up fast. Therefore, you can sleep easy knowing your personal drug use history will go no further than the eyes of the life insurance carrier underwriter.

Alternatives to Admitting Marijuana Use

An alternative to admitting drug use would be to consider lying on the life insurance application. However, lying on a life insurance application is fraud. It is better to just admit you are looking for life insurance with a pre -existing condition. Because if you commit fraud on a life insurance application, and the life insurance carrier finds out, the carrier will not pay the death benefit. That is a high price to pay (no pun intended) for not being straightforward with a life insurance company about your marijuana use.

Another alternative would be to stop using marijuana before applying for life insurance. If you have only used marijuana a couple times (no more than 2) in the last year then you may qualify for a preferred best rate class.

How About Using Marijuana After I Obtain Life Insurance?

Once you have a life insurance policy in place you may do what you want. The life insurance policy is based on who you were when you took out the policy. The life insurance is not affected by any dangerous hobbies that you engage in, any health problems that arise or any drug use you partake in after the life insurance policy is put in place.

Therefore, if you use marijuana after you get a life insurance policy you are in the clear. Just know that a life insurance company will investigate the past history of a client to determine if the client was truly being straightforward and honest on his or her life insurance application.

Are you ready to take a look at some actual rate quotes?  If so, just visit our page Life Insurance Quotes where you’ll be able to compare different life insurance companies against one another as well as be able to choose between no medical exam policies and traditional (exam required) life insurance policies.

Written by
TermLife2Go
We are a team of life insurance experts with the simple mission of helping you find the best coverage for your unique situation. We research, review, and rank life insurance companies to make that process easier.