Maine investigating restaurant that calmed lobsters with pot

SOUTHWEST HARBOR, Maine – State health inspectors are investigating a Maine lobster restaurant that tried to mellow out lobsters with marijuana.

The Portland Press Herald reported Charlotte’s Legendary Lobster Pound in Southwest Harbor remains open but has stopped allowing customers to request meat from lobsters sedated with marijuana. Owner Charlotte Gill is a state-licensed medical marijuana caregiver.

Gill said Friday she had started offering “smoked” lobster meat recently and hopes to resume sales by mid-October.

Maine Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman Emily Spencer wouldn’t say whether the state had asked Gill to halt such sales.

It’s unknown whether pot smoke actually calms lobsters or has any effect on their meat.