AUGUSTA — For the second straight three-month period in the duel to legalize marijuana in Maine, one group got almost all of its money from a national backer, while its rival relied on a smaller pool of in-state money.

The latest totals for the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol and Legalize Maine, contained in Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices filings released by the groups on Wednesday, are similar to their hauls in the first three months of 2015. Both groups are gearing up for campaigns to convince Maine voters to legalize marijuana by referendum in 2016.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol raised $53,000 in 2015’s second quarter with $50,000 coming from the Marijuana Policy Project, a national group that has led legalization efforts in other states. In total, the Maine group has raised $104,000 with $48,000 left as of June 30, but $100,000 of its total is from MPP, along with $81,000 more in contributed services or goods.

Legalize Maine, backed by Maine medical marijuana advocates, raised $25,000, bringing its campaign-long total to $56,000 with $12,000 left as of June’s end.

Lucas Sirois, of Rangeley, a Legalize Maine board member, has been its biggest backer so far. His businesses have contributed $17,500 to the effort, with Spruce Valley LLC, a network of medical marijuana caregivers, giving $10,000 in the second quarter.

The groups’ plans differ in many ways. For example, Legalize Maine would allow adults 21 and older to possess unlimited quantities of marijuana in their homes and carry up to 2.5 ounces in public, taxing marijuana at 8 percent. Marijuana Policy Project’s plan would limit public possession to 1 ounce of marijuana and six plants in homes and places a 10 percent tax on top of Maine’s 5.5 percent sales tax.

David Boyer, the campaign manager for the MPP-backed effort, said even though it raised almost all of its money from the national group, 90 percent of total contributions came from Mainers. He said he expects in-state fundraising to increase as the election gets closer.

“We’ll definitely ramp that up and get people invested at a higher level in-state,” he said. “But even small-dollar donations, they get people invested.”

Paul McCarrier, Legalize Maine’s president, said despite the fundraising gap, the group is mounting a strong signature-gathering effort. Both parties started that effort earlier this year and must collect more than 61,000 signatures from Maine voters, or 10 percent of the total votes cast in the gubernatorial election last November, to get on the ballot. Neither group released a total so far on Wednesday.

However, the reports show that signatures were the main goal from April through June. Boyer’s group has hired Brandon Maheu, a Democratic operative, to manage the signature effort. McCarrier’s group has paid more than $20,000 for signature gathering from Rep. Ben Chipman, a Portland independent, and a company owned by former Rep. Stavros Mendros, a Lewiston Republican.

“We have the money there and we also have a lot of donors that we haven’t really tapped yet,” McCarrier said of the group’s haul.

Michael Shepherd — 370-7652

mshepherd@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @mikeshepherdme