A local group pushing for the legalization of marijuana has vowed to protest the opening of a proposed medical marijuana dispensary in Cambridge.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (CRMLA) is planning to protest Commonwealth Alternative Care, a medical marijuana dispensary seeking to open in the Fresh Pond area. According to communications director of CRMLA, Jim Borghesani, the CEO of the dispensary, Daniel Delaney, is an opponent of the initiative to end marijuana prohibition in Massachusetts.

“It might seem odd that a group supporting the adult use of marijuana and campaigning to end marijuana prohibition in Massachusetts would protest a medical marijuana dispensary, but the only dispensary we are protesting is one affiliated with Dan Delaney,” Borghesani said.

CRMLA aims to put an initiative legalizing marijuana on the 2016 ballot in November, and according to Borghesani, their campaign has thousands of supporters.

Meanwhile, Delaney has formed the group Safe Cannabis Massachusetts to oppose the CRMLA’s marijuana legalization initiative. Borghesani claims Delaney’s opposition is for profit-driven reasons.

Delaney, a Boston lobbyist and former state public health official, said that Borghesani’s group has yet to respond to any of the substantive issues raised in opposition to the initiative and is focusing on the messenger instead of the message.

“My opposition to this initiative is not due to opposition against adult recreational use. I oppose this because it is bad policy,” he said.

At this time, Delaney said he hasn’t submitted any locations to the Department of Public Health for citing medical marijuana dispensaries on behalf of the Commonwealth Alternative Care, and there has been no confirmed opening date of the dispensary.

“I am puzzled by CRMLA’s idea that the way to ensure that people get safe access to legal marijuana is to protest the opening of a facility that provides just that,” Delaney said.

Borghesani said he expects dozens of people will participate in the protest should the dispensary open, and that many dispensaries support his initiative.

“I think Massachusetts voters are becoming more aware of the colossal failure of marijuana prohibition, and one of the two dispensaries currently hoping to open in Cambridge is an opponent of the measure to end prohibition in Massachusetts,” he said.

According to Delaney, the backers of the CRMLA’s legislation are big businesses and investors who will profit from the legalization of marijuana.

“The CRMLA’s initiative is driven by industry profiteers who have demonstrated a very cavalier attitude towards patients with genuine need who have already waited too long for access to their medicine,” Delaney said.

To contact Chronicle reporter Natalie Handy, email nhandy@wickedlocal.com or follow her on Twitter @nataliehandy.