Navesh Chitrakar / ReutersA man smokes marijuana.

(Bloomberg) -- Marijuana is now effectively legal in the nation’s capital even though Congress tried to stop it.

District of Columbia residents who are at least 21 years old are free to grow as many as six plants and possess as much as 2 ounces, as a measure approved by voters in November took effect Thursday. It’s still illegal to sell the drug or smoke it in public.

Recreational pot — legalized in Washington, D.C. on Thursday and decriminalized Tuesday in Alaska — is less dangerous than both alcohol and tobacco, scientists assert.

The safety of marijuana versus booze is not a new claim but, for the first time, researchers measured the potential harm of these drugs in a more quantitative way — that is, by comparing a lethal dose to how much of the substance is typically consumed socially.

Their findings showed the dangers of marijuana "may have been overestimated in the past", while the risk of alcohol has been "commonly underestimated," researchers said.

Extra Extra! Hear all about it! News just broke that two powerhouse politicians for cannabis progression have taken it upon themselves to submit bills that would end the federal prohibition of cannabis and we are fully on board! More and more states are pushing for decriminalization and, if all goes well, we could see federal framework for legalized cannabis nationwide before the end of the year. Let’s check out what’s happening in the cannabis movement this week:

U.S. News

NATIONWIDE

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said on Wednesday the District of Columbia would move forward as planned with marijuana legalization, despite objections from members of the U.S. Congress.

"We believe that we're on very strong legal ground," Bowser said. Voters in the U.S. capital overwhelmingly decided last year to make marijuana legal for recreational use. But Republican lawmakers said that was contrary to the will of Congress, which has responsibility for the District of Columbia.

Scientific discoveries are published almost daily in regard to the healing properties of the cannabis. But most of these findings appear solely in subscription-only peer-reviewed journals and, therefore, go largely unnoticed by the mainstream media and by the public. Here are five just-published cannabis-centric studies that warrant attention.

1. Men Who Smoke Pot Possess a Reduced Risk of Bladder Cancer

The Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday banned the manufacture of marijuana concentrates using flammable solvents like butane -- including hashish or hash oil -- without permission from authorities.

The ordinance passed unanimously, 9-0, during a special meeting on the day Alaska’s recreational marijuana law went into effect. The ordinance was introduced in early February by the administration of Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan.

The ordinance makes it unlawful to “manufacture a marijuana concentrate, hashish, or hash oil by use of solvents containing compressed flammable gases or through use of a solvent-based extraction method using a substance other than vegetable glycerin,” unless the person is licensed.  

You are 114 times more likely to die from overdosing on alchohol than you are from cannabis, a recent study has found.

The report, published in Scientific Reports journal, compared the risks associated with 10 substances using the margin of exposure approach. This method compares a lethal dose of the drug with the dosage typically taken by recreational users. Substances tested included alcohol and nicotine, as well as illicit drugs including cocaine, heroin, ecstasy (MDMA) and methamphetamines.

Last week, the Niagara Falls Reporter discussed the political challenges that Lewiston Greenhouse LLC, owned in part by the owners of Modern Disposal, had in winning one of five grower's licenses in New York to grow medical marijuana.

If the decision is based on merit, as opposed to back door dealing, Lewiston Greenhouse has an excellent chance.

Merit may play a larger role than previously expected due to a new culture of fear settling over Albany since the arrest of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and others by Preet Bharara, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

There are several reasons why Lewiston Greenhouse will fare well in the category of merit.

Some Republicans in the state legislature may be ready to legalize medical marijuana (though only if it's the non-smokable stuff), but at least one Democrat just wants all weed legalized.

Sen. Dwight Bullard, a Democrat representing Cutler Bay and current chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, introduced SB 1176 yesterday. The bill would effectively legalize marijuana, even for recreational use, in Florida.

Bullard's bill is thoroughly in-depth. It would start by changing the name of the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and then it would set up a system to tax marijuana sales (the bill mandates about 5 percent of collected taxes should be used for studies on marijuana's safety and benefits).