With the largest doctors’ group in the state claiming there isn’t enough research and the Massachusetts’ AG saying it would be a “headache” if it were legal, medical marijuana has some big guns trained against it in what is considered one of the most liberal states in the country.

With the Legislature stalling on a bill that would legalize the drug for medical purposes and issue supporters collecting signatures across the state, voters will likely have the opportunity to decide in November.

Under state law, more than 68,000 certified voters must sign an initial petition to place an issue on the November ballot, with not more one-quarter of all the signatures coming from the same county. If the Legislature does not take up the issue, an additional 11,000-plus signatures are needed by June 19th to put it on the ballot.

But, the Massachusetts Prevention Alliance, which opposes the measure, has asked the Supreme Judicial Court of Suffolk County to change the ballot question’s wording, which it says is “misleading.” And the state’s physicians are questioning whether there is enough scientific research to justify the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

With medical marijuana becoming one of the most popular issues nationwide, are opponents just fighting a losing battle?

Jennifer Manley, spokeswoman for the Committee for Compassionate Medicine, which proposed the ballot question, however, says a summary of the question clearly states that what would happen under the proposed law.

“We drafted the initiative petition to make the Massachusetts medical marijuana law the safest in the country,” Manley said in a statement.

Supporters point to the measure’s licensing requirements for patients and dispensaries overseen by health department and the limited list of diseases that can be treated with the drug as examples of areas where the proposal excels.

Medical marijuana gets huge poll numbers across the country and there is little reason to think a liberal state like Massachusetts would be conservative on this issue. The tide of momentum is just too overwhelming.

- Joe Klare