Of the eight weed activists arrested during the joint giveaway near Capitol Hill on Thursday, two of them are now facing possession charges—though they’re viewing them with a glass half-full.

“I’m on cloud nine,” says Adam Eidinger, one of the arrestees, shortly after his release from jail today. He’s the co-founder of DCMJ, the cannabis advocacy group that organized the “Congressional Joint Sessions” event and was the driving force behind the city’s successful legalization bid.

He initially thought his charges were under federal law, which would set up a legal battle over D.C. versus federal law. “We’re proving that the District of Columbia is not going to be treated like crap,” he says. “We legalized marijuana and we’re going to make sure it’s legal in every inch of the District.”

However, upon learning that he faced charges under D.C. law rather than federal code, he still managed to find a positive angle. “It looks like they are backing down,” he says. “This is just a slap on the wrist.”

DCMJ planned the giveaway on D.C. land to stay within the letter of the law, which allows people to possess 2 ounces and legally give away up to an ounce of marijuana, so long as they are over 21.

Less than half an hour after the giveaway began, Capitol Police began to arrest some of the weed activists who were handing out joints to Congressional staffers and other Capitol Hill employees. The giveaway continued despite the arrests on three separate occasions. It took police officers confiscating all of the remaining marijuana, some 1,000 joints, to shut down the event. Prior to that, the group had given away joints to around 100 people, according to DCMJ co-founder Nikolas Schiller.

All eight arrestees spent Thursday night in jail, according to Eidinger.

He and William Angolia, the founder and CEO of the DC Cannabis Co-op Club, were both charged with possession of a controlled substance under D.C. law., a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of six months in jail and up to a $1,000 fine.

Eidinger had 78 rolled marijuana cigarettes, which equaled 2.06 ounces of marijuana, according to the charging document. Under D.C. law, it’s illegal to possess more than 2 ounces. Eidinger maintains that he was not carrying more than 2 ounces, and the weight tallied by the government includes the joints’ paper and filter tips.

According to charging documents, Capitol Police found a total of 2.405 ounces of marijuana in plant, joint, and bud form in Angolia’s car. He too was charged with possession of a controlled substance under D.C. law.

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to pursue charges against six other individuals arrested during the incident on April 20,” says William Miller, spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office of D.C. “We typically don’t comment on charging decisions and have no comment on this particular matter.”

After yesterday’s arrests, Schiller said the arrests were politically motivated—a way to prevent Eidinger and others from attending the planned civil disobedience on Monday, when activists will smoke on the steps of the Capitol at “high noon.”

But Eidinger says his stay away order is only for the 100 block of 1st St NE, rather than the whole Capitol grounds (Angolia’s is for the full grounds), so he has every intention of participating in the smoke-out.

“I’m going to the Capitol on Monday and we’re still going to smoke on the steps,” he says. “That’s still happening.” His hope is to rally 1,000 people at Saturday’s National Cannabis Festival to join him and the other activists on Monday.

“This is just the beginning,” says Eidinger. “We want to set off a fire in the city … a metaphorical one.”