A line hundreds of people long snaked through the Adams Morgan neighborhood of the nation's capital Thursday evening as locals waited for free marijuana seeds that they can now legally grow at home.

Those who braved an hourslong wait and reached the inside of Libertine, an absinthe bar, chatted with activists and business people who handed them free seeds and advice.

Photography was not allow at the distribution tables, but outside the bar a throng of reporters and TV crews recorded the unprecedented gathering and interviewed the diverse mix of attendees.

Possession of 2 ounces of marijuana, home-growing of six plants and gifting of 1 ounce became legal under local law last month in the District of Columbia, but sale of the drug remains illegal and Congress has blocked further reforms.



The D.C. Cannabis Campaign organized the giveaway to facilitate an explosion of home-grows among residents interested in complying with the new law.

“Take them home and plant them immediately,” campaign chairman Adam Eidinger said using a microphone. “We're going to have 16,000 new pot plants in D.C.”

Eidinger, who guided the voter-approved law through a long bureaucratic process before a 40-point Election Day victory, said the plants should produce smokable marijuana by October if grown in a windowsill, but he urged people to use enclosed outdoor facilities if possible.

“Use the sun, it’s free. Use the rain, it’s free,” he said, the Washington Monument visible from his soapbox.



Although pot sales remain illegal in the city, business people arrived in droves, eager to make connections and sell growing kits for hundreds of dollars or more tailored consulting services.

Experts offering tips to first-time bud tenders ventured different estimates on grow times. One professional consultant said it generally takes 100 days to grow usable pot with high-quality setups, and pointed out that sativa strains generally grow faster than indica ones.

Massive pot #Seedshare line snakes down road adjacent to 18th. Easily 300+ still waiting. All rsvpd pic.twitter.com/wKDnFDgoMj — Steven Nelson (@stevennelson10) March 26, 2015

Bewildered passers-by frequently stopped to ask what was happening as crowd-pleasing reggae and other pot-associated music played at the front of the bar.

The carnival-like atmosphere attracted some activists with no apparent connection to marijuana. Members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, for example, gave out vegan cookies, confusing some.



“I’m not an animal, I need my medicine!” a gray-haired man shouted at an animal rights activist dressed as a cow.

Eidinger, who last week led a troupe of colonial-garbed activists to the office of House oversight committee chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, used the gathering as an organizing opportunity.

"They should produce bud in October" if grown in window - @aeidinger at pot #Seedshare pic.twitter.com/DlMIwsNWYD — Steven Nelson (@stevennelson10) March 26, 2015

It may be necessary to “unleash the movement” on Chaffetz, Eidinger said. The Utah congressman and other federal lawmakers who favor pot prohibition say local officials were not legally able to enact the limited legalization law because of a budget rider that passed Congress in December.

Melissa Subbotin Sillin, a spokeswoman for Chaffetz, was unable to provide his reaction to the event. “I am waiting to hear back from our counsel and staff on their review of this event,” she said in an email.



Law enforcement was nowhere to be seen at the seed giveaway. A spokeswoman for the local field office of the Drug Enforcement Administration, which enforces federal laws that make most pot possession illegal, told U.S. News earlier in the day the agency would not be sending agents.

Editorial Cartoons on Marijuana View All 15 Images

Residents of four states – Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington – have approved marijuana legalization and regulation laws. More are likely to follow as activists eye a half dozen 2016 ballot opportunities. Congress does not have the ability to constrain local democracy as easily in states as in the nation’s capital and has not moved to block those laws.