With the expensive fight to grant terminally ill patients access to life-ending medication in the rearview mirror, proponents are focused on implementation.

Coloradans can immediately start requesting the medication, though doctors won’t be allowed to write prescriptions until after the measure becomes effective. Proponents say Gov. John Hickenlooper could certify Proposition 106 as early as Thursday, though it could be as late as Dec. 19.

Life-ending medication is already available because five other states allow access. Proponents are working with pharmacies in Colorado to ensure that patients can receive one of several medications. A pharmacist-to-pharmacist call line has been established to assist with implementation.

“I have no knowledge right now whether a prescription will be written on the same day it becomes effective, but I can tell you in California that is exactly what happened,” said Kat West, national director of policy and programs for Compassion and Choices, the organization that led efforts to pass Proposition 106.

The group raised at least $5.4 million to advance the measure. Updated financial filings are expected Thursday, so the fundraising figure is only a snapshot. Opponents raised at least $2.6 million.

Colorado voters overwhelmingly passed the initiative last month, with just under 65 percent of the electorate supporting the effort. Voters acted after the legislature failed twice in recent years to advance a similar measure.

To be eligible for a prescription, patients need to be at least 18 years old; have a prognosis of six months or less to live, confirmed by two doctors; be mentally competent; self-administer the medication; and make two oral requests, separated by 15 days, as well as a third written request, signed by at least two witnesses.

Compassion and Choices has launched an outreach effort to educate Coloradans and the medical and pharmaceutical communities on the new law. The group is unrolling a bilingual education campaign. The Colorado Hospital Association is helping with efforts.

“We’re undertaking this massive outreach effort and we created these resources so that no terminally ill adult has to suffer needlessly in Colorado,” West said, underscoring the importance of the Colorado Access outreach effort.

Patients can find request forms at the Compassion and Choices Colorado website, and the organization is also offering an “end-of-life consultation program,” in which patients can speak with consultants about end-of-life care.

Proponents recommend that patients begin speaking with their doctors immediately.

No matter what side Coloradans fell on in the debate, it was widely agreed that Proposition 106 was one of the most emotional issues on the ballot this year.

Opponents fear that insurance companies will deny medical treatment because life-ending medication is less expensive. The initiative creates a felony charge for tampering with a request for medication or coercing someone into taking the medication, and insurers are prohibited from issuing policies with conditions based on life-ending medication, but concerns still exist.

Voters, however, were persuaded by patients and family members who came forward with heart-wrenching stories of pain and suffering.

One story was that of Brittany Maynard, who gained national attention for her fight with brain cancer at the age of 29. In 2014, Maynard was told she had six months to live. She moved to Oregon where she could use life-ending medication, and she documented her decision to do so. The videos went viral. She used the medication in November 2014.

Maynard’s husband, Dan Diaz, became a face of the campaign, as did Matt Larson, a Denver attorney diagnosed with brain cancer in spring 2015 at age 35. Larson’s cancer is in remission, but he has only a 50 percent chance that it won’t return.

“I personally don’t know whether I would take the option to use medical aid-in-dying… but knowing that dying from brain cancer can be in certain instances an agonizing and painful death, simply having the option now brings… my whole family tremendous peace of mind.”