Not much happens in the Massachusetts marijuana world that Michael Latulippe doesn’t hear about. As president of the Cannabis Society, a large network of pot enthusiasts that organizes events, and development director of the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance, which represents medical marijuana patients in the state, Latulippe stands at the intersection of patients, politicians, growers, consumers, and lobbyists. Latulippe recently spoke with the Globe about his drug-fueled adolescence in Florida, his stint as a website developer in Silicon Valley, and his shift from marijuana user to marijuana advocate and powerbroker.
“People four or five years younger were part of the party/protest crowd in the 1960s, but my parents missed that boat. I can remember my dad breaking my bong on at least one — actually, two — occasions. But at my friend’s house, it was cool to smoke. The hippies didn’t mind at all — in fact, they encouraged it. This is when I started to discover that cannabis wasn’t really a bad thing. Eventually, it became the only drug I would use, because it was always the healing thing you would use to come off the others.”
“My thinking after the election was, If I’m going to make change or be effective in any sense, I have to become an attorney. Studying constitutional law had a big effect on me. It made me unafraid to read legal language and interpret it, which became really important more recently when I started working on the Massachusetts medical marijuana statute. In order to argue with DPH [Department of Public Health, which oversees the medical marijuana program], I had to actually know what the law said so I could start making forceful arguments. Other advocates were saying what they wanted, but I could tell there was real statutory construct to base those arguments off of, and I understood what it was realistic to ask for.”
“I went to California on a whim. I had a return flight booked, but when I got there, it was like paradise. It was sunny every day, there were flowers everywhere, and everybody had lots and lots of pot. My friend had jars — trash bags! — full of bud. I let my ticket back expire.”
“I was exposed to people who were shaking from a movement disorder, smoked pot, and all of a sudden were completely normal. It became clear to me that this was really a medicine. But I was also exposed to some of the kookiest people. At the time, there was no licensure for dispensaries in California, and they all hated each other and were competing with each other. There was no industry association. It was cutthroat.”
“I bought up all the names I knew they wanted and put up my own site. I even had pictures with a bunch of their members from Cannabis Society events. People told me to ask them for a lot of money, but I didn’t think that was appropriate. I ended up giving them the domains as a donation after I got what I wanted, which was to see the full text. They included me in the process after that.”
Dan Adams can be reached at daniel.adams@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @Dan_Adams86.