The last thing you anticipate when attending a funeral is to end the day on a high, and yet that’s exactly what mourners in eastern Germany were faced with earlier this year.
Not an emotional high, but rather the kind of high felt when you’ve eaten one too many space cakes – as that’s exactly what guests were served instead of your everyday, run-of-the-mill chocolate cake they’d ordered.
Those who consumed the baked goods experienced an involuntary drug high, resulting in many of them being taken to the hospital and a police investigation being launched.
As reported by The Guardian, Rostock police said earlier today (October 29) that after the burial in Wiethagen, the funeral party went to a restaurant to eat coffee and cake – as is customary in Germany.
However, it soon became clear the cake served – despite being advertised as an ordinary dessert – was anything but ordinary, with 13 people who experienced nausea and dizziness needing medical treatment shortly after they’d eaten it.
A police investigation revealed the restaurant employee who was in charge of preparing the cakes had asked her 18-year-old daughter to bake them on this occasion.
It’s believed her daughter baked two separate cakes – one for her own personal use – and her mother accidentally took the wrong cake from the freezer to the funeral.
The incident has only just come to light now, despite occurring in August, out of respect for the mourners. Police confirmed the 18-year-old woman was currently under investigation.
Space cakes contain marijuana, although they cause a different kind of high to smoking a joint, with the high taking much longer to kick in. Despite this, the high lasts much longer and is usually a lot more intense.
You can’t stop a space cake trip, with the high lasting anywhere from six to eight hours. However, after effects – such as dizziness, nausea, anxiety and panic attacks – may last anywhere up to 12 hours.
It’s also important to note those who don’t use any kind of cannabis on a regular basis are often affected by space cakes in a more detrimental way than regular users, so the mourners were likely to be more affected than regular users would have been.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).