BOSTON - A judge on the state's highest court has approved new language for a proposed ballot question on medical marijuana to make clear that the plant would be produced and distributed in Massachusetts.



Advocates for medical marijuana and two other planned ballot questions on Monday submitted a final round of voter signatures to Secretary of State William F. Galvin. The questions appear set to qualify for the Nov. 6 ballot.



Another question would allow independent repair businesses to obtain access to all the diagnostic information they need for fixing motor vehicles. A third question would permit terminally-ill people to take life-ending medications with a physician's oversight and certain safeguards.

In a decision released on Monday, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Associate Justice Robert J. Cordy, acting on an appeal by opponents, approved new language for people who vote "yes" to approve medical marijuana.



The new "yes" statement reads, "A yes vote would enact the proposed law eliminating state criminal and civil penalties related to the medical use of marijuana, allowing patients meeting certain conditions to obtain marijuana produced and distributed by new state-regulated centers, or, in specific hardship cases, to grow marijuana for their own use."



Previously, it had said, "A yes vote would enact the proposed law eliminating state criminal and civil penalties related to the medical use of marijuana by patients meeting certain conditions."



Heidi Heilman, president of the Massachusetts Prevention Alliance and lead plaintiff in the case, said many people are not aware that approval of the question would create up to 35 dispensaries in the state in the first year of legalization including at least one in each county.



If the question is approved, a person could obtain up to a 60-day supply if diagnosed as having a debilitating medical condition.



Heilman said many people don't know that the drug will be easy to access and abuse. She said she is especially concerned that marijuana will be more available to youths. "It's really about selling pot in our neighborhoods," she said.



John S. Scheft, lawyer for the plaintiffs, said he will not appeal Cordy's ruling on June 28 to accept the revised "yes" statement forwarded by Assistant Attorney General Peter Sacks. Scheft said the attorney general was required by law to write the statement in a neutral way. "We're very happy with it," he said.



Following the appeal filed by Scheft, Cordy earlier had ruled that the original "yes" statement was flawed because it failed to inform voters they would be authorizing a system of production and distribution. Cordy ordered the offices of the attorney general and the secretary of state to amend the statement



Jennifer Manley, a spokeswoman for the Committee for Compassionate Medicine, which is sponsoring the medical-marijuana ballot question, said the committee agreed with the attorney general's re-write of the "yes" statement. She said the committee was mainly concerned that the statement show the distribution centers would be regulated by the state.



Manley said the committee is confident it submitted enough voter signatures to qualify for the ballot, but she could not say how many signatures were provided to Galvin's office. She said the committee is also confident that medical marijuana will be approved by voters.



Stephen Crawford, spokesman for the Massachusetts Death with Dignity Act, and Arthur Kinsman, coordinator of the Massachusetts Right to Repair Coalition, said each of those organizations filed 16,000 certified signatures of voters to Galvin's office on Monday to make the ballot.



Petitioners needed to file an additional 11,485 certified signatures to Galvin's office by tomorrow's deadline. A spokesman for Galvin said the office needs to count the signatures, which were already certified by local election officials.



Kinsman said his group would prefer to have a bill approved by the state Legislature, but at this point, is gearing up for a campaign for the ballot question. The state Senate has approved a "right to repair" bill and a version could still be approved by the state House of Representatives.



"We like our chances in the fall," Kinsman said. "The ballot question is the best right to repair proposal we could ask for."



Daniel Gage, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers in Washington, said on Monday that the auto makers have created a campaign committee to lead an effort to defeat the ballot question. Automakers made significant concessions over the past eight months, but "national auto parts companies" have repeatedly rejected compromise, Gage said in a prepared statement.



According to the "right to repair" proposed ballot question, vehicle manufacturers would be required to sell to independent shops or individual car owners all the computer software they need to correctly figure out the problems of every make and model of autos.



Gage has said that independent repair technicians and consumers can currently obtain diagnostic repair codes if they purchase access to a web site and buy the right tools.



Under the "death with dignity" question, terminally-ill patients would be allowed to ask for life-ending medications from a doctor. The proposed law would be similar to laws that exist in Oregon and Washington.



Crawford said people "want the kind of control and peace of mind the death with dignity statute can provide for people in their final days of life."



Lisa Barstow, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Family Institute in Woburn, which opposes the ballot question, said that with existing palliative care and hospice care, people can die with dignity but more along with nature.



"Life is precious, from conception to natural death," Barstow said.