FORT COLLINS — A group of medical marijuana supporters are trying to overturn a law banning pot dispensaries in the city by — once again – appealing to voters.

Former dispensary owner Kirk Scramstad last week filed notice that he intends to put a proposal on the November 2012 ballot overturning the dispensary ban and setting up a medical marijuana licensing authority in Fort Collins.

Scramstad was accompanied to the city clerk’s office by Mark Belkin, organizing director of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 7.

Scramstad must now assemble a petition packet for review by City Clerk Rita Harris. If it’s approved by Harris, then Scramstad can start collecting petitions.

They have 60 days to collect at least 4,214 valid signatures to ensure the measure will be placed on the November ballot.

Scramstad said Wednesday he’s confident he’ll get another shot at appealing to voters.

He said that the November 2011 vote to ban Fort Collins’ 20 dispensaries by a 53-to-47 percent margin was not a true reflection of how most residents feel about medical pot.

“The last election was a limited-access election, it was mail-in ballot of only the most recent, active voters,” he said. “The upcoming presidential election historically gets a higher voter turnout and we’ll get more citizens out there voting on this issue.”

Last year’s vote was hailed by former Fort Collins mayor Ray Martinez as a clear sign the city would not become a regional crossroads of marijuana consumption.

“I thinks this sends a strong message that the character of this community is not one that wants to be recognized as the marijuana city,” Martinez told the Fort Collins Coloradoan.

But Scramstad, former owner of the dispensary A Kind Place, said Fort Collins needs a well-regulated system of dispensaries to help patients who now have to travel several miles to get the pain relief they need.

“More people are seeing the effects of this vote, it’s a been a hardship on patients and now suddenly there are abandoned buildings where dispensaries used to be,” he said.

Current Fort Collins Mayor Karen Weitkunat said cities are having to continually deal with medical pot dispensaries because there hasn’t been clear guidelines from federal and state officials.

“I guess medical marijuana is not going away,” Weitkunat said. “It just keeps coming up again.”

Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com