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Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Life Insurance for Pot Smokers

posted by on January 24 at 11:50 AM

It’s old news that a couple tokes of reefer can make truck stop food taste like ambrosia, but now an insurance provider is banking on the belief that kind bud can keep stoners truckin’. From the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws…

For years responsible marijuana smokers have been unable to access affordable life insurance products. Because of cannabis prohibition and cultural stereotypes, adult marijuana smokers have been forced to lie on applications or forego the health benefits of responsible marijuana use. Those who were honest about their use of marijuana were flat out declined or rated so high that they could not afford the coverage they needed.

No Longer!

Odd as it seems, providing special coverage for pot smokers is a savvy investment. Studies keep popping up that show the spindly plant can stave off deadly diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and cancer. More to the point, though, stoners aren’t killed by their vice - like their drinky counterpartsbecause pot won’t melt your liver.

Not convinced a doobie a day can keep the reaper at bay? Check out this lady.

RSS icon Comments

1

I work for Farmers, and we'll provide life insurance for pot smokers. You can't get a preferred rate, but you can pay standard rates.

Posted by Gitai | January 24, 2007 12:04 PM
2

Stop pretending like pot is completely harmless. While it's not like people have to go take a pot break every 15 minutes, the smoke is an awful lot worse for your cardiovascular system dose for dose vs. cigarettes, in terms of tar and shit at least.

Posted by The CHZA | January 24, 2007 12:26 PM
3

I'll smoke to that!

Posted by longball | January 24, 2007 12:32 PM
4

How many adult employed pot smokers are tearing through 20 joints a day? The comparison of pot smoke to cigarette smoke
is just silly.

Posted by zippy | January 24, 2007 12:43 PM
5

That woman has a 72-year-old grandson. Freaky.

Posted by keshmeshi | January 24, 2007 12:49 PM
6

I'm so like totally living for freakin' EVER, man!

Posted by monkey | January 24, 2007 1:32 PM
7

I'm so like totally living for freakin' EVER, man!

Posted by monkey | January 24, 2007 1:32 PM
8

Well, that's good. I don't have a whole lot of faith in humanity, however I refuse to believe that people will allow prohibition based on what big-money corporations want forever.

Posted by JessB | January 24, 2007 1:36 PM
9
Stop pretending like pot is completely harmless. While it's not like people have to go take a pot break every 15 minutes, the smoke is an awful lot worse for your cardiovascular system dose for dose vs. cigarettes, in terms of tar and shit at least.

Stop pretending cannabis is always smoked, and that a dose is a full joint. The safest ways to administer it are by eating or vaporizing -- neither of which puts any tar in the lungs. Plenty of people have one puff and then feel the effect for hours. How many tobacco smokers do you know whose regular dose is just a puff? It's almost always a full cigarette.

Posted by Phil | January 24, 2007 1:58 PM
10

yeah you guys. i can take one decent puff from a pipe or bong and be happily stoned for hours. (yeah so i'm a lightweight!). that one little puff is nothing compared to the smoke i used to inhale when i was a pack-a-day cigarette smoker back in the day.

Posted by jameyb | January 24, 2007 2:04 PM
11
yeah so i'm a lightweight

...or just frugal. On the black market that our policy of drug prohibition created, the price of this plant is similar to that of gold.

Posted by Phil | January 24, 2007 2:11 PM
12

yeah, but if pot were legal they would tax the hell out of it and it would cost even more than the current black market price. oh, and really, i'm not frugal at all actually... just a lightweight when it comes to the weed. ;)

Posted by jameyb | January 24, 2007 2:21 PM
13

No, I suspect if it was legal, we would make a strong effort to under-cut the black market price, thereby destroying the black market, and putting control and regulation in the hands of the state.

We tax the hell out of hard alcohol, but I don't see anyone selling bathtub gin on the street corner.

Posted by Phil | January 24, 2007 2:32 PM
14

phil: good point... not 100% convinced, but still, good point!

Posted by jameyb | January 24, 2007 2:56 PM
15

Surely, jameyb, you don't believe our current marijuana policy - which generates no tax revenue, diverts billions in law enforcement resources, and sends 3/4 million folks a year to jail - is better than paying some taxes. You already pay exorbitant black market prices for pot; imagine spending less but getting back billions in funding for public programs - and living without fear of getting tossed in the slammer.

Posted by Dominic Holden | January 24, 2007 3:21 PM
16

oh no, of course not! i am 100% for the legalization of pot, despite the fact that it will be taxed heavily. i was just conversing a bit, you know, maybe playing a little devil's advocate and what not. ;)

Posted by jameyb | January 24, 2007 3:49 PM
17

Cigarette smokers don't suck it in as deep as they can and hold it there as long as they can, either.

When I was a heavy pot smoker, back in the bad old shitty-weed days, my lungs were so ravaged that every hit off the bong was followed by a ten-minute coughing fit, deep, racking convulsive coughs, dozens of them, sometimes with blood. Not exactly what the health insurers are looking for.

I quit smoking pot more than 20 years ago, because pot makes me stupid, but continued to smoke cigarettes, off and on, for another decade. Hand-rollers. While I had a typical perpetual smoker's hack, it was NOTHING like the window-rattlers of the bong days.

Posted by Fnarf | January 24, 2007 4:19 PM
18

Is Nayak the world's oldest person then? She's not known to these people:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6296089.stm

Posted by impossible prince | January 24, 2007 4:40 PM
19

I'm guessing that Nayak can't come up with the standards of documentation that Guinness requires, or indeed any standards at all. "All Headline News" looks about as reliable a source as the Weekly World News.

Posted by Fnarf | January 24, 2007 4:57 PM
20

So, does the pot smoking show up on the life insurance medicals (blood/urine) and if so how long before it doesn't?

Posted by lori | February 2, 2007 10:02 PM

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