A top Conservative accused the new government on Thursday of seeking to give children access to marijuana — mere moments after a Liberal MP brushed aside an NDP call to immediately decriminalize the drug.

The talk of cannabis and confusion was so strong in question period that Bill Blair, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of justice said a "hazy fog" had descended over the place.

But Blair, a former Toronto police chief who's now the point man on the legalization file, was pretty perplexing, too.

As the federal Liberals map out their plan for legalizing marijuana, they can look at how — and how successfully — a handful of other jurisdictions have overturned the prohibition of pot.

In 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first U.S. states to legalize marijuana. Within two years, each state set up a framework governing how retailers could start selling. 

But although the two states have much in common, they have different takes on key questions that Canada will have to consider, like whether residents will be able to grow their own plants as they can in Colorado, or whether laws should put limits on non-residents who buy marijuana here, like in Colorado — or leave the market open as Washington does.

A new study released today in the New England Journal of Medicine says the number of tourists visiting Colorado's emergency rooms doubled the first year recreational cannabis became available in the state.

The study was conducted at an urban academic hospital in Aurora, Colorado, just outside of Denver. The authors confirmed their findings using data from more than 100 other hospitals in Colorado between 2011 through 2014.

The data shows visits to the ER from out-of-state residents doubled from 85 per 10,000 visits in 2013 to 168 per 10,000 visits in 2014. ER visits for folks from Colorado stayed around the same.

Young’s measure would regulate growing facilities, dispensaries and “marijuana lounges’’ where people could indulge in pot-infused brownies without fear of arrest. Smoking pot in public would not be allowed; violators could be hit with a $100 fine.

Under the measure, Michigan residents will be able to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and five marijuana plants. Non-residents would be limited to a half-ounce.

Marijuana growers would have to keep plants out of public view and “secure from unauthorized access.’’

The bill establishes an excise tax, including $50 per ounce of marijuana flowers and $15 per ounce for marijuana leaves. It requires growers to pay taxes to the State Department of Treasury on the 15th of each month.

The authorities have insisted they do not want to attract marijuana tourists, a subject for which the country has gained international fame in recent years.

The growing interest of international companies to settle in Uruguay to produce and export marijuana for medical use could lead to create a "small development center," said an official.

"Several international companies have shown interest in settling in Uruguay to produce and export medical marijuana," the secretary general of the National Drug Board, Milton Romani said in an interview with AFP.

"This is not what he had intended and can mean a small center of development for the country," he added.

LEGO is looking for a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based plastic. Hemp might be the answer.

LEGO wants to switch the material it uses to make its trademark toy bricks beloved by children around the world. The company currently uses plastic resin (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), but by 2030 it wants to be using a more environmentally conscious and cost-effective material, according to a Plastics News report.

LEGO senior project manager Allan Rasmussen told Plastics News that the new material must be able to form bricks that are indistinguishable from current plastic-made bricks.

In a groundbreaking exhibition rich with opportunities for public input and dialogue about the uses and evolving attitudes about marijuana, the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) will open Altered State: Marijuana in California, the first-ever museum exhibition to focus on the topic, April 16, 2016, in its Great Hall. Set against the backdrop of a likely California ballot measure in 2016 to legalize marijuana’s recreational use, the exhibition features artwork, political documents and posters, scientific displays, and interactive and multimedia exhibits all meant to provoke questions and conversations about the provocative plant.

Robyn Griggs Lawrence has a steak recipe so good it’ll make you feel high. Literally.

Seared Wagyu New York Strip with Cannabis Rub is just one of more than a hundred gourmet-inclined recipes Lawrence compiled for her Cannabis Kitchen Cookbook, now entering a second printing. Now she’s taking her expertise right into readers’ homes with an online cooking course.

A Wyoming legislative committee on Thursday moved to make possession of marijuana brownies and other foods and beverages containing the drug a misdemeanor.

The Wyoming Senate earlier this week called for making it a felony to possess more than three ounces of food or drink containing marijuana or its active ingredients.

However, the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday stripped out the felony language, leaving the bill instead with a system of increasingly stiff misdemeanor penalties for repeated convictions of possessing food or beverages containing THC, the active compound in marijuana.

The full House still must act on the bill before a conference committee could try to resolve any differences between the House and Senate versions.

Does a marijuana-legalization initiative expected to be on the ballot in November allow cities and towns to ban adults from growing their own marijuana?

Under the initiative, adults 21 and older could grow up to six plants, with a 12-plant-per-household maximum.

Ryan Hurley, a lawyer for the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Arizona, which is pushing the initiative, says cities cannot ban home growing.   

But lawyer Tom Dean, who supports the more permissive proposal offered by Arizonans for Mindful Regulation, claims the opposite: