Seattlepi received a news tip Monday night from The Copenhagen Post’s news editor, Justin Cremer, who explains that city officials in the capital of Denmark are anxious to legalize marijuana there and import cannabis supplies from Washington, Colorado or both.

In 2011, there were 4,300 marijuana arrests for possession in DC, doubling the 2,150 arrests in 2001. That’s a 100% increase in marijuana arrests vs. the mere 5.2% DC population increase from 2000 to 2010.

Grand Rapids police raided three medical marijuana dispensaries last Wednesday seizing nearly everything in sight; the Mid-Michigan Compassion Club, the Natural Wellness and Purple Med. GRPD believed they were “operating in violation of the state’s medical marijuana law, particularly in light of a February state Supreme Court ruling that essentially made dispensaries illegal.”

The Massachusetts Medical Society, which steadfastly opposed the medical marijuana ballot question approved by voters in November, called on Friday for large-scale research of the drug’s potential medical uses to ensure it is tested in the same rigorous way as prescription drugs.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has stated although he doesn’t personally believe cannabis should be legalized, the current penalties are overly harsh, and he supports I-502 & Amendment 64. “I want things to be decided more at a local basis, with more compassion. I think it would make us as Republicans different,” Paul said. Lets hope the GOP absorbs more Libertarian ideals.

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) on Tuesday blasted 8 former heads of the DEA for pressuring the Obama administration to crack down on laws legalizing the recreational use of marijuana in Oregon and Washington. “It is arrogant of these former DEA chiefs to encourage the president to nullify these laws,” he said. “The fact that these former DEA chiefs are so focused on marijuana possession is why we have lost the war on drugs.”

A proposal to legalize marijuana for medical use in Iowa likely is dead for this session. A Senate subcommittee approved the bill Monday, but the panel’s chairman, Iowa City Sen. Joe Bolkcom, says the proposal likely won’t go further because there isn’t support for it in a full committee.

The Stranger’s sources say “hash oil retails for around $50 per gram in Seattle, with wholesale rates of $20 to $30 per gram. The pound rate—if it exists—would be $9,000 wholesale or more. If one could source 72 ounces of liquid hash oil, it would carry a $40,000 price tag.”

San Jose has 106 pot clinics, more than four times the number in San Francisco and twice as many per square mile as LA. Marijuana use is “extremely common” among tech workers, said Mark Johnson, 34, chief executive officer of Zite in San Francisco.