Photographer: Yousef Espanioly
“In a sign of marijuana’s growing normalization in Canada, two major life insurance companies have decided to treat cannabis users as non-smokers, reversing a long-standing policy and offering many of them far cheaper premiums.
Like their competitors, Sun Life and BMO Insurance have for years classified anyone who disclosed using marijuana – either recreationally or for medical purposes – as a smoker, saddling them with charges that could be triple those of non-smokers,” wrote Tom Blackwell for The National Post on May 29, 2016.
Blackwell continued, “But in memos released over the last week, the companies say the latest research on the drug’s health impacts convinced them to change that approach.
Sun Life’s new policy applies to all marijuana consumers who do not also smoke tobacco; BMO’s is more limited, benefiting recreational dabblers who smoke up to two “marijuana cigarettes” per week.
“In our industry, we keep up to date with medical studies and companies update their underwriting guidelines accordingly,” Sun Life said in a statement Friday. “As a result, people who use marijuana are now assessed … at non-smoker rates, unless they also use tobacco.”
The change comes as cannabis is increasingly accepted as a medicine for various ailments, and the federal government prepares to legalize recreational possession as well.”
Read the full article here.
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