Can Lobsters Get High?

Lobster is a mouth-watering shellfish that is prized by foodies who are looking for a luxurious, rich meal commonly bathed with butter. Behind the scenes, these clawed crustaceans are being boiled alive to conserve their delicate flavours offering the freshest seafood possible. A restaurant owner in Maine went looking for a more humane way to serve up lobster and found a creative solution- getting them high on cannabis.

Maine Lobster Experiments

Charlotte Gill, renowned restauranteur, of Charlotte’s Legendary Lobster Pound in Maine went looking for a way to serve up a more humanely boiled lobster. This hunt led her to play around with the idea of managing their pain by getting her lobsters high with cannabis smoke. She went and picked herself out a test subject named Roscoe. Don’t worry, she didn’t boil this little guy live though, she put him in a pot with a few inches of water and blew smoke into his temporary enclosure. The first thing she noticed was that he became more still, stopped wielding his claws, and seemed sedated. Roscoe was released for his important contribution to science and she then proceeded to experiment on another 40-50 lobsters.

“We looked at tail flips and we also looked at, when we cook the lobster, is there a reaction when you put it into the boiling water? And we were seeing no reaction, or very minimal reaction,” Gill says. “Versus what you see if you don’t have any sedation, which is they’re shooting their claws off. They’re climbing over each other to try to get out of the boiling water. It was a dramatic difference.”

When these little clawed crustaceans are stoned I like to believe they’re wondering if all of the fish they see passing above them are flying. Some species have been known to live for over 100 years so they’ve certainly had enough time to become introspective.

Will A Stoned Lobster Get You Stoned Too?

No. Gill states that she is not selling an edible, just a more humane way to serve up her famous lobster rolls. The tested lobsters were never served to customers but sampled by Gill and her father. To test wether there was lingering THC her father received a urine test after eating these THC-infused shellfish. Although there was no lingering skunky taste from the cannabis there was an addition to the flavour profile. Due to the fact that the stress levels in their test subjects were so low the meat actually tasted lighter and sweeter than normal. After their seafood feast, Gill’s father took a urine test to ensure that the THC hadn’t made its way from the cooking pot into his stomach. The results came back with absolutely no traces of THC making it a great option for everyone to enjoy no matter their stance on cannabis.

Studies Continue in Labs

Gill’s lobster experiment sparked an interest in scientific communities all over America. Labs began to look into these claims to test if cannabis could really be the secret to a humane meal.

“The 2018 minor media storm about a restaurant owner proposing to expose lobsters to cannabis smoke really was the starting point. There were several testable claims made and I realized we could test those claims. So we did.”

Dr. Michael A. Taffe, study author and professor adjunct at the Scripps Research Department of Neuroscience

Researchers conducted their studies in a similar way to Gill, purchasing wild Maine lobsters from the supermarket. They didn’t boil the lobsters during their time in the pot, instead, they put them in 48-degree water which is around what you would get from a hot tap. They began by pumping in four 10-second puffs from a THC e-cigarette. They continued to send this THC vapor into the sealed pot every 5 minutes for an hour. While the lobsters were soothed it didn’t appear to help when they were introduced to hot water.

When their tails were immersed in warm water, they exhibited an escape response: thrashing their abdomens, legs, and claws. Submerging their claws or antenna “resulted in a distinct movement to remove the appendage from the water,” the researchers wrote.

None of these test lobsters were boiled alive but they did euthanize them and test the bodies for THC levels.  While there was THC present in their tissues, showing that they can get stoned, the levels were too low to affect the eater.

Does It Work?

With our limited knowledge of lobsters, scientists are unsure whether they have the ability to feel pain at all. To be safe Switzerland banned the live boiling of lobsters in 2018, it’s now necessary to stun them before they make their final trip to the pot. What we can take away from these studies is that lobsters can get high but we still don’t know if it lessens their anxiety. Including your lobster when you pass the joint could make the cooking process easier for you if anything. With the lobsters still and sedated it will at the very least make them appear less stressed.

Try An Indica Strain

A nice, strong indica that will cause a relaxing body high is most beneficial to these cooking crustaceans. It will cause them to slow all the way down making it easier to move them to the pot. I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt if you joined in (puff, puff, pass).

Member Berry: This Indica-dominant strain will boost mood while relaxing the body. This physical relaxation will have you and your lobster feeling soothed and anchored.

Pink Kush: This Indica smells and tastes deliciously fruity making it a perfect addition to cooking in the kitchen. The strong body effects are perfect for full relaxation.

Wedding Cake: This strain is known for being a strong sedative and will leave you calm and pain-free. This is perfect for extreme relaxation.

Let us know if you try your hand at this humane option for a big lobster dinner!