But months later, the group has yet to submit the 9,000 documents to the city clerk — the first necessary step toward a referendum.

Eric Stevens, who has coordinated the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy’s petition drive, said two related issues are holding up the process: finances, and the strong possibility of a court battle with the city after the petitions are handed over.

“I sort of feel as if my hands have been tied for the last two or three months,” Stevens said.

The Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy began pushing petitions on Miami Beach almost two years ago, hoping to collect support from at least 10 percent of the city’s roughly 43,000 registered voters in order to create new language in the city’s charter that allows officers to issue $100 civil fines for adult possession of a personal stash of pot.

Two months ago, the committee announced it had far surpassed 10 percent and gathered enough signatures to schedule a special election.

But roadblocks quickly materialized.

Commissioners made clear in July that they would not push the issue themselves in order to place the vote alongside choices for mayor and commissioner on the November 1 ballot.

And about a month later, City Attorney Jose Smith opined that state law trumps city law in matters of illegal substances. Citing the legal outcome of a similar situation in the city of Tallahassee, he wrote that the group’s proposal to amend the Miami Beach charter “would likely be found to be unlawful” if challenged in court.

County law states that the city schedules the election after the submittal of valid petitions. But Smith said commissioners could choose to fight the pending referendum in court — as Tallahassee did — or refuse to schedule the referendum and leave it up to Stevens’ committee to sue.

So unless the Miami Beach commissioners support the effort, the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy would be headed for a costly court battle.

“If we don’t change Jose Smith’s opinion once we get the validation through, then we go to court,” Stevens said.

But that presents another problem.

Stevens, who is the committee’s treasurer, said the committee doesn’t even have the funds to pay the cost of submitting the 9,000 petitions for validation — ten cents per signature — much less fight a lengthy legal battle.

He said he has reached out to the committee’s main sponsors.

Rakontur, the local film production duo behind acclaimed movies such as Square Grouper, a documentary about the South Florida pot trade in the 70s, has contributed at least $26,000 to the effort.

But rakontur co-founder Alfred Spellman said he is hopeful that Stevens will be able to secure grants and that others will begin to chip in.

“It’s a grassroots effort here,” he said. “These types of things take time and we’re anxious to get this to voters as soon as possible. But there are several more hurdles.”

Stevens and company may want to leap those hurdles sooner rather than later, considering the effort began around June 2010 and state law says that petition signatures inked before May 2011 are only valid for two years.

Said Stevens: “I want to get this done as quickly as possible.”

Advocates of the drug hung around for several hours, waiting their turn to make a case before the commission to decriminalize marijuana in the city.

A doctor, lawyer, college student, stockbroker and a South Miami city commissioner all showed up to lobby Miami Beach leaders to place a referendum on the November ballot to allow the public to vote on whether they want to decriminalize marijuana on the Beach.

Some spouted off well-researched statistics. Others told stories of their love-affair with weed. Still others took more creative measures to try and suit the suited-commissioners.

“How many of you have ever smoked marijuana?” Miami Beach resident Jeff Gibson asked commissioners. There was silence from the daia.

“No, really. You look like you were from the era, the 60s, 70s,’’ Gibson persisted. “You were the hippies.”

Finally, Jonah Wolfson, the youngest commissioner, laughed and raised his hand.

Then, Gibson asked commissioners to raise their hand if they thought people in the chambers who had smoked marijuana should be in prison.

No one raised their hands.

“Everybody has smoked weed, everybody,” said Gibson, who runs an online magazine advocating marijuana reform.

. Wednesday was the official deadline to get an item placed on the city ballot. The group has collected 9,000 signatures in Miami Beach for a petition that calls for anyone caught with 20 grams or less of marijuana be charged with a fine of $100 or less.

.While some commissioners seemed supportive of the group’s activism, they declined to act on the request. Instead, commissioners encouraged the advocates to submit the names to the city clerk and follow normal protocol to get their item on the ballot.

Commissioner Michael Gongora agreed to meet with them at a later date to discuss the issue.

“It’s clear to me the people involved are passionate and put a lot of work into this issue,” Gongora said Thursday. “I thought it was nice to see so many young people engaged in civic activism. It’s not necessarily the issue I would have been involved in, but it’s good to see young people involved.”

Wednesday’s group was led by Eric Stevens and the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy—a state registered Political Action Committee.

“Florida not changing their laws is more of just an issue of wasting taxpayers money,’’ said Stevens, a 2010 University of Miami graduate, dressed in khakis and a button down shirt. “It actually affects these sick and dying people who are trying to get through and enjoy their last days.”

Unlike alcohol, people smoking marijuana would not cause the police any trouble, said Robert Platshorn, 68, the man who holds the title for serving the longest prison sentence – 29 years – for a non-violent marijuana crime in U.S history. He was imprisoned for smuggling marijuana from Colombia.

“The only effect of marijuana is the Domino Effect—you sit home and call Dominos and order a pizza,” Platshorn, of Miami, told the commission.

While Platshorn has served the most time, stockbroker Irvin Rosenfeld probably has smoked more joints than anyone else. He is one of four people in the United States who receives marijuana from the federal government.

Rosenfeld, of Lauderhill, has a rare form of cancer and smokes upward of 15 joints a day to help ease the pain.

Before going inside to speak to the commission, he lit up a joint, filling the outdoor City Hall corridors with the smell of fresh pot. Cops on the scene didn’t trouble him.

He pulled out a jar of marijuana and told commissioners it was crazy that taxpayers pay for his weed and for the costs to arrest those found in possession of the drug that provides him so much relief.

“I’m going to assume all of you pay federal taxes,” Rosenfeld said to the commissioners. “I want to thank each and every one of you for paying for my medical cannabis.”

Supporters of an amendment to decriminalize the adult possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana will present a petition with 9,000 signatures collected on Miami Beach to city officials at Wednesday’s commission meeting.

As long as roughly 4,300 of the signatures are verified as Miami Beach voters, the petitions should trigger a city-wide vote that could potentially allow police officers to issue a $100 fine for small-time possession of marijuana.

“"It's a great day for the marijuana legalization movement in Florida," Ford Banister, the chairman on the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy, said in a press release. "For the first time, Florida voters will soon decide a marijuana related question."

The efforts to decriminalize the drug in Miami Beach have been underway since 2010.

The Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy –a state-registered political action committee – has lobbied to soften the legal consequences for being caught with small amounts of pot in several Florida municipalities without success. But this Miami Beach effort has received heightened attention from its local celebrity backings.

Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman, the director and producer of Cocaine Cowboys and Square Grouper — a film about the South Florida marijuana trade in the 1970s and 80s — has contributed thousands and publically backed these efforts.

Spellman said the vote will be a chance for Miami Beach voters to decide whether they want their city to stop pursuing a “failed war on drugs.”

“Is it in the public interest to arrest, detain and process somebody in the system for small amounts of marijuana? Is that what we want cops, prosecutors and investigators to be focusing on?” he said.

Miami Herald staff writer David Smiley contributed to this report.