Do "stoned" lobsters really feel less painful when they are cooked alive?

Giz asksIn this Gizmodo series, we ask questions about everything from space to butts, and we get answers from various experts.

A seafood restaurant in Maine claims to have a more compassionate method when serving its lobsters: have them straightened first. Charlotte's legendary Lobster Pound now offers guests the chance to seduce their delicious crustaceans with grass before steaming. According to owner Charlotte Gill, Roscoe was the first to gain height by placing it in a closed box and infusing cannabis smoke into the water like a bang. Gill claimed that the lobster seemed quieter and even had a soothing effect on his future friends when he relocated it to a tank.

"If we are going to take a life, we have the responsibility to do it as humanly as possible," said Charlotte Gill owner at Mount Desert Islander. History has been widely used to the great pleasure of the great writers and art departments of the major new outlets.

The jar used to get the lobsters raised is grown by Gill, who is a licensed medical caregiver, who allows her to own up to 2.5 ounces and 6 mature plants. However, the restaurateur points out that his lobsters without rabbits will not cause humans to go up because all THC residues are eviscerated by the temperature at which they were cooked.

But how is his technique of smoking lobster effective before steaming? Although some crustaceans have cannabinoid receptors, according to a British study, many questions remain unanswered. Do lobster receptors work the same way as humans? Would the pot have a similar effect on these animals? If they do, can the grass even do something for the pain? Do lobsters feel the pain in the first place? In this Saturday edition of Giz Asks, we contacted experts in Invertebrate Zoology and Marine Biology (and PETA) to try to answer some of these questions and determine if this restaurant was mitigating lobster pain.

Maurice R. Elphick, Ph.D.

Professor of Physiology and Animal Neuroscience, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University, London

THC, the main psychoactive component of cannabis, exerts its analgesic effects in humans and other mammals by binding to proteins called cannabinoid receptor 1 and cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB1 and CB2). Lobsters do not have CB1 and CB2 type proteins and so there is no reason to believe that marijuana could relieve pain in lobsters.

Even if lobsters had CB1 and CB2 type proteins, that would not necessarily mean that marijuana could relieve pain in lobsters, because the nervous system of lobsters and mammals is very different. It is possible that marijuana contains chemicals that relieve pain in lobster, but this should be proven experimentally.

Daniel Rittschof, Ph.D.

Professor of Environmental Science, Duke University

I am sure that no scientist has asked this question. My answer is that it is likely that lobsters have receptors that could respond to active ingredients. Nobody has shown to my knowledge that lobsters are feeling pain. I would be surprised if they did not do it. There is also no information on what the lobster courses do.

Marc J. Weissburg, Ph.D.

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, State University of New York, Stony Brook

My gut says it probably does not work. Or perhaps, a better way of saying it is that there is no evidence that it would work and that some evidence suggests that this is not the case.

Insects (related to crustaceans) do not possess the neuronal receptors of the brain that produce the effect of cannabinoids in vertebrates. I should do a little more research to see if the crustaceans (lobster) have them (unlikely if the insects are not, but if possible) or if other receptors could fulfill this function (almost certainly unknown).

James M. Carpenter, Ph.D.

Chair, Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, Curator of the Peter J. Solomon Family, Hymenoptera

This description is insufficient to simply accept the claim: there is no reason to believe that the active ingredient is actually absorbed into the gills of the lobster, let alone that it has an effect on the lobster nervous system.

Lynne U. Sneddon, Ph.D.

Director of Biovascular Sciences, University of Liverpool

In small doses, some strains of cannabis may act as sedatives, but higher doses and some strains act as a stimulant. Cannabis is also used by humans to relieve chronic pain and has moderate success. To my knowledge, no one has tested cannabis on lobsters or other crustaceans in connection with pain or sedation. This may have a sedative effect, but this would require a scientific study.

PETA

It is highly unlikely that having a high lobster makes a difference when it comes to the real agony of being boiled or steamed. There is, however, a well-established way of preventing crustaceans from suffering and not eating them. PETA offers recipes for vegan lobster lobsters – even those based on soy – and encourages people to eat for life, animals and theirs, as lobster is high in cholesterol.

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