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WEBVTT PLACE IN LEBANON. BAKING LOBSTERS BEFORE BOILING THEM. THAT’S WHAT ONE SOUTHWEST HARBOR LOBSTER POUND WANTS TO DO. CHARLOTTE GILL, THE OWNER OF CHARLOTTE’S LEGENDARY LOBSTER POUND, IS A REGISTERED MEDICAL MARIJUANA CAREGIVER. SHE SAYS SHE BLEW MARIJUANA SMOKE INTO A BOX WHERE SHE HAD A LOBSTER AND THE CRUSTACEAN WAS CALMER. GILL PLANS TO USE THAT METHOD TO SEDATE LOBSTERS BEFORE COOKING

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A Maine lobster pound is hoping that baking their crustaceans is more humane – but we’re not talking about heat.Charlotte’s Legendary Lobster Pound in Southwest Harbor is getting some of its lobsters high before cooking them, owner Charlotte Gill told WMTW News 8.Gill, a registered medical marijuana caregiver, said she hoped doing this would be more humane."This restaurant was created on love," she said. "That is its foundation and purpose. The idea is for all that come here to be able to reconnect with things that we have perhaps forgotten about as a society and reconnect with the past."In an experiment, Gill put a lobster into a box with a few inches of water. Marijuana smoke was then blown into the box. She claims the lobster was calmer for the next three weeks – she even released it back into the ocean.Gill said she will use her new method at a customer’s request and she plans to build a larger tank to sedate multiple lobsters at once.Earlier this year, researchers found lobsters have an advanced nervous system and may feel pain.New laws in Switzerland were put into effect in February outlawing chilling Maine lobster on ice during transport. The law also bans boiling of lobster."I have made enough mistakes in my 47 years that I want to make sure that every action moving forward is one that I can live with, and also to show my son that his mom stands for what she believes in," Gill said. "This world has enough pain and suffering as it is. It’s time to make it a better place and I’m going to do my part, by starting here with this one thing."The active ingredient in marijuana, THC, does not affect the lobster meat, Gill said. It breaks down at a temperature below the temperature at which lobsters are cooked.Gill said it's impossible for a human to become high off a marijuana-sedated lobster.