Police arrested at least seven people in the past week for marijuana-dealing charges in the nation’s capital, where local law allows possession, growing and gifting of marijuana but not sales.

Five of the suspects were arrested by undercover officers during a two-day period in the city's less-affluent neighborhoods southeast of the Anacostia River. Two others were busted following a traffic stop.

Police reports describing two stings resulting in three arrests on April 1 and 2 say undercover officers paid $20 for a “green weed substance” that in each case tested positive for marijuana. Paperwork for a third sting doesn't state a dollar amount.

Twenty dollars buys about a gram of marijuana, which is about one-sixtieth of the 2-ounce limit for adult possession under local law.

Although city residents voted by a 40-point margin to abolish possession penalties in 2014, a congressional budget amendment blocks local regulation of non-medical sales.

The cluster of small-dollar and targeted busts may seem a throwback, but it's actually the result of ordinary police work, says Dustin Sternbeck, a spokesman for the city’s Metropolitan Police Department.

"We receive complaints from citizens of illegal narcotic sales in that area and are addressing [the complaints]," he says.

Sternbeck says the recent arrests do not suggest a change in the department's approach toward marijuana.

Adam Eidinger, co-founder of the D.C. Cannabis Campaign, which led the local legalization campaign, isn't convinced.

"I would disagree; there is a crackdown compared to the first year after legalization," he says. "The first year of legalization in 2015 was very hands-off, except for in Ward 8 with public smoking arrests, but now citywide there seems to be a crackdown."

MPD was not immediately able to provide comparative arrest statistics.

Eidinger, whose group has staged large seed and joint giveaways that are legal under local law and smokeouts that are not, says there may be "a whole bunch of factors" contributing to more arrests, including brazen sales and advertising online.

"It's time that Congress lifts the rider that prevents us from writing responsible legislation that could empower people to pay taxes and run legitimate businesses," he says, though that appears unlikely with continued Republican leadership.

In the meantime, the police department's approach toward higher-profile boundary-pushers distributing marijuana has varied since the legalization measure passed.

The department arrested two people associated with the business Kush Gods in December 2015 for selling pot-infused food out of branded vehicles. Both pleaded guilty to pot distribution last year. But other entrepreneurs, such as the operators of a pricey juice-delivery service that purports to give free pot to buyers, have not been targeted.

The arrest paperwork doesn’t offer much detail about the individual circumstances of recent arrests, and it’s unclear if the cases are connected.

The arrest in the city's southeast that did not feature an alleged sale happened when a man allegedly held a 1 lb. bag of marijuana in plain view of an undercover officer. He was found to be carrying $911 in cash.

The two busts following a traffic stop, meanwhile, happened on March 29 when the driver allegedly was seen using a cellphone. A search revealed two digital scales and about 7 ounces of marijuana, resulting in the arrest of both the driver and a passenger.

A captain in MPD’s Seventh District, where the undercover busts happened, says the efforts were coordinated by MPD’s central Narcotic Enforcement Unit. The unit’s leader referred an inquiry to Sternbeck, who said it would not be possible to discuss specifics.

Although the police department says the arrests are not a sign of a larger crackdown, they come at a time of uncertainty for pot reformers -- with a change in federal law enforcement leadership -- and for local civil liberties advocates with the leadership of Interim Chief Peter Newsham, known for a heavy-handed approach toward activists.

Eidinger currently is organizing a giveaway of 1,227 joints -- to express support for federal legislation -- on April 20 on turf patrolled by local police near Congress, followed by an a clearly illegal April 24 smokeout on land patrolled by the federal U.S. Capitol Police.