Is Cannibalism Legal In North Dakota? The Answer Will Shock You

You've probably never asked yourself this question, because we don't like to think about these things.

Being the odd human being that I am, I'm going to ask the big scary weird question...

Is Cannibalism Legal In North Dakota?

A former forensic investigator, Rick Cassano, answered this question on Quora. He stated,

"Cannibalism is not specifically, by statutory law, illegal in any of the 50 states, nor on the federal level."

Cassano went on to explain that while that is true, all 50 states and the federal government have statutory laws that at least indirectly make it illegal to obtain human body parts.

The Loophole

Essentially, as long as the body part is not obtained through murder or desecration of a corpse there, generally, wouldn't be any legal consequences. So, if someone offered up an arm, or if you decided to amputate your own leg and eat it for dinner, that's perfectly fine.

As crazy as that sounds, someone actually did that. According to Vice, in 2016, a man had his leg surgically amputated. The doctor allowed him to keep the amputated leg.

The man took the leg home, invited 10 friends over to his house, and served up human flesh tacos.

The Idaho Exception

I did find that one state has a specific law, making it illegal to consume human flesh. The state passed this statute in 1990 and is the only state in which cannibalism is explicitly illegal.

There you have it. That's the disturbing truth about cannibalism in the United States.

One last thing: Murder is bad. Hurting people is both bad and illegal. Don't do it.