Social smokers often don’t see their occasional habit as a problem, or even a legitimate health concern. After all, how much harm could a few cigarettes each week really cause? Unfortunately, according to a new study, social smokers are very much at a higher risk of fatal lung complications than non-smokers. Even an Occasional Cigarette Greatly Boosts Mortality Risk November 21, 2018, 12:40 pm News Staff – An estimated 189 million adults worldwide smoke tobacco 'occasionally' but not every day, yet few. One of the biggest problems with so-called social smoking is that many people don’t stay in the “occasional smoker” category for long. “It’s super common in college,” Blatt says. It is true that an occasional cigar smoker can be nicotine free in about 48 hours. However, cotine stays in the blood for up to 14 days. Therefore, to write an n occasional cigar smoker and secure a non tobacco rate, he or she must not use any tobacco 14 days prior to the paramedical exam and not smoking more than one cigar per month.

Are you a casual pot smoker?

Casually, without commitment, irregularly or on occasion

In addition to raising your risk for heart disease, emphysema, stroke, leukemia, asthma, pneumonia, and tuberculosis, smokers are extremely likely to develop cancer, particularly fatal cancers. “Smoking is both the leading cause of cancer and the leading cause of death from cancer,” says Peggy Lang, MSN, CRNP, coordinator of the Thoracic Oncology Multi-Disciplinary Program at the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. “85 percent of lung cancer cases are smoking.

So you only smoke weed on weekend or just a few times a week, how long would it take to pass a drug test.

First lets define what a casual smoker is, in the first place. Commonly, when consider things as casual if its not an “every day thing”. For example, a casual drinkers, may only drink on weekends or with friends.

A person on a restrictive diet might casually have a slice of pizza every now and then. It maybe once a week or once a month, but its an event thats not part of the day to day.

Does that qualify for weed?

Of course you can smoke pot on occasion or every now and then. Although marijuana can be habit forming it is not addictive.
Making it a better way to relive stress on the weekends than drinking beer.

So in this sense, you can toke up casually. But would THC still show up in a urine test, if you only smoked once a week ago?

This maybe bad news for some, but THC even on occasion is enough to fail a urine test.

Why THC is so hard get out your body

My personal opinion is, your body absorbs THC because it recognizes its benefits.

Unlike other drugs, THC is pulled into body fat and stored because its needed. The cannabinoids in marijuana have proven beneficial for health, physically, mentally and emotionally.

But, here is the down side to this, It can take months to flush out THC.

Because weed is stored in fat cells, you would actually need to burn fat to detox. That can take a few weeks or even few months for regular smokers.

So, what about that time you only smoked weed for one week. Or maybe only twice a month, will you pass a drug test?

Detoxing Factors to Consider

Before even getting into a time line, lets evaluate your body’s natural cleansing potential.

Everyone is a little different, but generally the rules are the same. Because THC is stored in fat, we have to look at your body type, lifestyle and diet.

• The more body fat you have, the longer it will take to detox
• A less active lifestyle will attribute to length of time
• Diet high in fat and carbs also extends times

By reducing body fat, exercising and dieting you can cut times a little bit. The longest amount of time needed is 3 months. The absolute shortest time would be a week.

Occasional Smokers

How long will it take you to detox?

Say you only smoke on weekends, it maybe a joint, blunt or a bowl with some friends.

If its about every weekend activity (regular) or more that 2 weekends out of the month, you will fail a urine test.

Marijuana has an accumulative effect. One week is not enough time for your body to get rid of THC. By the time the next weekend rolls around, you are still holding on to THC from last weekend.

You don’t really smoke weed, but you did on vacation?

Guess what, if you haven’t smoked weed for over 3 months, you probably would pass. But, lets say your on vacation and decided to toke up for a few days. Chances are you will need three months to flush out THC.

You only smoke weed once a month or more

If you only smoke once a month, meaning at least 4 weeks between tokes. You maybe able to pass a drug test after a week since you toked. A detox is still suggested, why take chances.

Can you see the pattern here?

First casual is irregularly right, If you smoke once a week, only on weekends or a few days straight. Your now in the “Regular” smokers zone.

You are a regular smoker because you smoke weed every weekend. This is because you may have smoked pot enough times and without a long enough break to stack stored THC.

Safest bet for passing

The best bet you can make is not smoking weed at all. Just joking why on earth would you do that to your self. Lets get back to reality.

Even thought its still not guaranteed, the best bet for passing is not smoke more than once every 3 months. Wait at least 3 weeks after your last toke to test.

Don’t have time to naturally get rid of THC?

This is usually the case, you smoked some chronic and need to pass a UA. The fastest way to beat a urine test is to use a detox for THC and drink plenty of water. It’s really unfortunate that weed takes s long to naturally flush out.

Even if you only smoked one joint ever , it can take at least 3 weeks to get out your system. For the chosen few, it might be less, but that depends on the factors mentioned above.

The rest of us need more time.

More info:

• Reduce BF% through Ketosis – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2716748/
• Metabolic Rate – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate

Occasional Smoker Lung Cancer

In a previous post, we already discussed the effects of smoking on life insurance premiums. But in this article, we’re going to discuss the more basic question of how much smoking makes you a smoker to life insurance companies.

This isn’t a small issue either. When people apply for life insurance, they typically minimize how much they smoke, often to the point of classifying themselves as non-smokers. For example, a person may consider himself to be a non-smoker, because he only smokes on weekends. In his own mind, the fact that he doesn’t smoke Monday through Friday means that he isn’t a smoker.

Rest assured that a life insurance company will take a very different view of even minimal use of tobacco.

A Life Insurance Company’s View of a “Smoker”

A standard question on every life insurance application is “have you used tobacco or nicotine in the last 12 (or 24, 36, 48, or 60) months?” Now notice the way that question is worded – it’s an unqualified question that forces you to say yes for even the most minimal use of tobacco, or to lie and hope they never find out.

A “yes” answer from you will automatically classify you as a smoker for life insurance purposes.

As far as the insurance company is concerned, if you’ve only smoked a few cigarettes in the time period covered, you’ll be considered a smoker. The frequency with which you smoke will only matter as far as which smoker rates you are assigned. But a “yes” answer for any degree of tobacco usage will classify you as a smoker.

This is where the life insurance industry and the typical person on the street don’t see eye-to-eye. While the average person recognizes a difference between an occasional smoker, and a full-blown smoker, the life insurance industry does not make the same distinction. If you smoked just a few cigarettes in the past year, a life insurance company will consider you to be a smoker.

Can You Pull-Off the Big Lie?

Anything is possible of course, including attempting to deceive an insurance company in regard to your use of tobacco. But there will be consequences if the habit is discovered at a later date.

Occasional Smoker Life Expectancy

Failure to disclose a significant health condition is considered to be insurance fraud, and there a few possible outcomes should that be the case. At the extreme, you could face criminal prosecution. More commonly, the life insurance company can void the policy upon discovery of your undisclosed habit.

It is even possible – and completely legal – for an insurance company to deny paying your insurance to your beneficiaries upon your death, if it can be determined that your death was in any way caused by tobacco usage that you failed to disclose. The insurance company could simply refund the amount of your life insurance premiums to your beneficiaries, but not provide any funds as part of the face value of the policy.

They can even terminate your policy without warning if subsequent medical tests reveal that you are in fact a smoker, when you indicated that you weren’t. Tobacco usage can easily be determined from a simple urine test.

Tobacco usage is too easy to determine to even consider the possibility of failing to disclose it. It’s far better to admit to your tobacco habit, and obtain the best policy that you can get based on that reality.

What If You Quit Smoking?

Life insurance companies do actually have a favorable response to the prospect of you quitting smoking. Some companies will even rate you preferred plus if you can demonstrate that you have been tobacco free for certain for a certain period of time, which is generally at least two or three years.

Some will require that you actually participate in a smoker cessation plan, which will provide the documentation needed to establish the fact that you are now a former smoker. And this is a far better route to take than trying to cover up the fact that you’re a smoker.

Best Course of Action For the Smoker: Choose Your Life Insurance Company Carefully

Unfortunately, most people are in no position to know which companies are the most likely to approve a smoker for life insurance, and at the lowest possible premium. You have two choices in this regard:

1. Apply to a bunch of life insurance companies, so that you can find out who the best ones are for smokers, or
2. You can work with an experienced insurance broker who already has that information, and can place your application only with companies who like smokers – and they are out there!

Applying to a bunch of life insurance companies takes time and effort, and it can also tie up your money since they typically want you to provide the initial premium along with the application. So you really have only one attractive choice, and that’s to work with a good insurance broker.

We can help you with that. We work with many life insurance companies, and know who the ones who will take the most favorable view of smokers. Let us help you get your life insurance, and that will save you time, money, and the aggravation of facing declined applications. Put our knowledge to work for you!