(Image source from: Prescott eNews)

Another endeavor to legalize recreational marijuana in Arizona went up in smoke on Thursday when a grassroots group missed the 5 p.m. deadline to file petitions to get on the November 6 ballot.

A representative of Safer Arizona said on Thursday afternoon that it had gathered nearly 75,000 of the 150,625 signatures required to qualify the Safer Arizona Cannabis Legalization Act for the ballot.

According to the group's website, it had hoped to collect 225,000 signatures. The group had been gathering signatures since November.

The initiatory had six chief objectives: repeal prohibition, post-conviction relief and criminal-record expungement, job creation, no discrimination, and reasonable regulation and consumer safety.

In 2010, Arizona electors narrowly passed Proposition 203, allowing the use of medical marijuana for those who hold a medical card authorized by a physician. The card lets patients to purchase and use marijuana without facing legal action. The basic dispensaries in the state opened in 2012.

In 2016, voters defeated Proposition 205, which would have made ownership and consumption legal for age 21 or older. The measure lost 51.3 percent to 48.7 percent. Arizona was the solitary state out of four that did not pass a marijuana initiative in November 2016.

Safer Arizona has been a polarizing force among marijuana advocates. The group's representatives lack professionalism and play into the "stoner" stereotype, critics say. That may alienate some supporters of the cannabis cause who don't want to be connected with the antagonistic connotations of marijuana use, they contend.

By Sowmya Sangam