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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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State regulators have put a halt to a Maine restaurant owner's experiment of sedating live lobsters with marijuana smoke before they are cooked, at least for now.Charlotte’s Legendary Lobster Pound in Southwest Harbor is getting some of its lobsters high before cooking them, owner Charlotte Gill said.Gill, a registered medical marijuana caregiver, said Saturday that she was working to change her procedure after a "technicality under the Maine Medical Use Program and a remark from the health department."The Maine Health Inspection Program was investigating, Emily Spencer, a spokeswoman with the Department of Health and Human Services, said Saturday. She said the state was also looking into whether the medical marijuana was being used appropriately.Spencer was unable to comment on specifics due to confidentiality, she said.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 planned 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.She said because no one had sold lobster that had been sedated with marijuana smoke before, state officials would consider the meat "adulterated.""We are completely confident that we will be able to proceed as planned," Gill wrote on the lobster pound's Facebook page. "Keep in mind this meat is presently not available, and we don’t expect it to be for a little while longer under the circumstances. However, we will make absolutely sure we have all our ducks -- lobsters -- in a perfect row before it is."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.