Massachusetts voters are expected to spark up a new legalized recreational marijuana industry this year, and state lawmakers are preparing for a regulation process that could be anything but mellow.

The backers of a November ballot question want to regulate marijuana like alcohol — limiting it to those age 21 and over, prohibiting consumption in public places, overseeing sales through a new agency similar to the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission and taxing weed up to 12 percent.

Expectation of a thumbs-up from voters is prompting state Sen. Jason Lewis (D-Winchester) and the Special Senate Committee on Marijuana to head to Colorado Jan. 11 for a four-day tour of state’s marijuana business funded by the Milbank Memorial Fund. Sen. Vinny deMacedo (R-Plymouth) said he’s going on the trip to research problems a new industry could pose, such as how law enforcement would test for those driving under the influence of marijuana.

“No, I will not be trying anything,” deMacedo insisted. “I personally don’t think this is a good idea for Massachusetts, but the voters of the commonwealth are going to make a decision. From a legislative perspective one way or the other we should be prepared.”

Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry (D-Dorchester), a committee member who hasn’t taken a position on legalization, acknowledged voters could open a new Massachusetts market.

“I would think so. Remember, the voters supported decriminalizing possessing up to an ounce of marijuana,” Forry said. “We’re not sure what’s going to happen, but it if does come, how do we tax it? How do we limit it so it’s not on every corner?”

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol plans to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for media buys, including television ads, said spokesman Jim Borghesani.

Republican consultant Charley Manning predicted voters will approve the pot question as they did with medical marijuana in 2012 — and say it likely to create a booming business.

“The tax revenues in Colorado have come in much higher than they originally anticipated,” Manning said. “There are a lot of politicians who say they are against legalization, but I’ve never seen the folks on Beacon Hill turn away new revenue if the people decide to grant it and this would be a vote of the people at the polls.”

Without a well-financed opposition campaign, voters aren’t likely to rethink their pro-pot positions, said longtime Democratic strategist Michael Goldman.

“Overwhelmingly the polling shows the public is in favor of legalization,” said Goldman. “Voters aren’t buying the slippery slope argument — that battle for law enforcement has been lost. They are not willing to deny everybody alcohol because some people may become alcoholics. It’s the same with marijuana in the mind of the public.”

Even opponents admit the momentum is with legalization.

“We believe it’s a gateway drug, but it’s an uphill battle for us because we don’t have the resources that the proponents have,” said Wayne Sampson, executive director at the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association. “We don’t have funds. We can’t mount a television campaign. We’re certainly at a disadvantage getting out our message.

“There’s a lot of people who have used it and they haven’t had a negative effect,” Sampson said. “They don’t go out and drive under the influence. But we have seen firsthand and witnessed many families destroyed by the using of drugs.”