Pubdate: Tue, 31 May 2016
Source: National Post (Canada)
Page: A1
Copyright: 2016 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Tom Blackwell

SUN LIFE REVISES RULES ON 'SMOKERS'

WON'T INCLUDE POT

In a new sign of marijuana's growing normalization in Canada, a major 
life insurance company has decided to treat cannabis users as 
non-smokers, reversing a long-standing policy and offering them far 
cheaper premiums.

Like its competitors, Sun Life has 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.

But in a message to brokers last week, the company said the latest 
research on the drug's health impacts convinced it to change that approach.

"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.

Sun Life's decision was likely motivated by what would have been an 
unthinkable factor for a legitimate corporation in the past: a 
burgeoning market of Canadians who admit to using marijuana, said 
broker Lorne Marr of Toronto's LSM Insurance.

"They're trying to get an edge on the other companies," he suggested. 
"I don't think they're just trying to lower consumers' premiums."

The head of a patient advocacy organization hailed the new policy as 
an important breakthrough, saying the insurance issue has been a 
"huge concern."

Not only have users of medical cannabis been forced to pay 
"exorbitant" life insurance rates, but in some cases they have been 
turned down for coverage, said Jonathan Zaid, founder of Canadians 
for Fair Access to Medical Marijuana.

"It was a huge discrepancy in the way patients were being treated," 
he said. "I've even heard of (medical marijuana users) who couldn't 
get mortgages because they were denied life insurance."

Companies apply the policy to patients who smoke pot, employ 
vaporizers or just consume the drug in edible products, said Zaid. 
And yet there is little good evidence that even long-term smoking of 
it causes cigarette-like harms, he said.

Cannabis smoke does contain many of the same carcinogens as tobacco 
fumes, but a Canadian co-authored study published last year - like 
others before it - concluded there was little evidence of an 
increased risk of lung cancer, even in habitual users. Experts say 
that's likely because cigarette smokers suck in far more of those 
cancer-causing chemicals on average than pot users.

"It's great that they're recognizing that the old policy wasn't based 
on science," Zain said. "There's no evidence that there is any 
long-term risk of cancer or anything equivalent to tobacco."

Being treated as a smoker by insurers certainly carries a financial 
sting. One $500,000 policy with a 20-year term costs nonsmokers $53 a 
month, smokers $148, said Marr.

Applications typically ask if customers use marijuana and, while it's 
possible to give a false response, companies administer urine and 
blood tests to back up information clients give them, he said.

Marr said it's likely now that other insurers will follow Sun Life's example.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom