Less than a week after eight weed advocates were arrested as they gave away joints near The Hill, Capitol Police took four activists into custody for their participation in a smoke-in on the East Front Plaza of the Capitol. This time, though, the cannabis crusaders planned for the handcuffs.

DCMJ, the local marijuana advocacy group, scheduled today as a moment for civil disobedience. “We have to do it because the issue is dropping off the radar,” Adam Eidinger, DCMJ co-founder, told DCist about marijuana legalization. “We wanted [Congress] to be able to see it and smell it. Why shouldn’t we be doing civil disobedience right now? We should be outraged.”

DCMJ said that if Congress acted to include more marijuana-friendly amendments in the budget, it would call off the smoke-in. The three asks were: getting rid of the Harris amendment, which prevents D.C. from enacting weed regulation; including the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, which prevents the Department of Justice from meddling with marijuana programs that are legal under state laws; and vote on legislation that legalizes or de-schedules the drug.

Before some of the activists lit up this afternoon, a number of speakers talked about why they use marijuana, and there were Jewish, Christian, Rastafarian, and secular humanist blessings as Capitol Police stood watch, setting arrestees up for a First Amendment defense.

Once the toking began around 1:30 p.m. today, Capitol Police arrested four people, two women and two men, including Eidinger. “Under federal law, it is unlawful to possess marijuana,” Capitol Police said in a statement, adding that the four adults would be charged with possession under U.S. law. (It’s also illegal to smoke marijuana in public under D.C. law.)

Eidinger was also one of the eight people arrested on Thursday, and one of only two to be charged with possession under D.C. law. According to court documents, he had 0.06 ounces over the legal limit, though the 78 joints are now off to be officially weighed at the Drug Enforcement Agency.

In court last Friday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. sought a stay-away order for Eidinger that would encompass the full Capitol grounds, which would have made him unable to attend today’s event. However, the judge ultimately ruled on a much smaller radius for the stay away: the 100 block of First Street NE.

Nikolas Schiller, the co-founder of DCMJ, says that the actions today and last Thursday have resulted in members of Congress contacting the group, though he declined to say who or how many. After last year’s smoke-in at the White House, followed by an invitation inside that did not result in policy changes, the group is now focusing on a different branch of government.

“Our effort to get Congress to listen, I think, was successful,” says Schiller. “We might get some traction and move things forward. You can petition and send emails all you want [to Congress], and they can ignore them, but you can’t ignore people when they demonstrate.”

Filed Under: dcmj, marijuana, meanwhile on capitol hill, smoke-in,