No one was expecting COVID-19 to hit businesses worldwide so hard, but the designers of a new cannabis shop that opened its doors in Toronto’s Beaches area this week may be feeling prescient.

The family-owned and operated shop called The Neighbourhood Joint (TNJ) features a built-in pneumatic tube system that is not only a nod to how information was transferred between city hall reporters and newspapers in the 1930s, but also contributes to answering the modern and pressing issue of COVID-19.

On April 7, 2020, the Ontario government made an emergency order under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act to support the cannabis retail sector through the COVID-19 pandemic, temporarily allowing authorized cannabis retail stores to offer delivery and curbside pick-up.

Before the pandemic began, the Ontario government held consultations on whether to allow cannabis lounges, cafes and "special occasional permits" for pot — which would allow for sales at places like festivals.

Premier Doug Ford's government has stated its ultimate goal for cannabis is an open market, but at this point it continues to control all legal sales through the Ontario Cannabis Store, which has reported an uptick in online purchases during the pandemic. 

Ontario stands to miss out on about $180 million in economic activity if the province's 100-odd privately-run cannabis stores aren't allowed to provide delivery or curbside pickup services, according to estimates from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. 

However, that figure balloons to nearly $1 billion in losses if that includes the additional 450 stores which are ready to open, but whose licence applications are pending approval by provincial regulator, the business group said. 

"This is coming from a time when the economy is grappling with the impact of COVID-19 measures," Daniel Safayeni, co-chair of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce’s Ontario Cannabis Policy Council, told BNN Bloomberg in a phone interview.

There's a sharp divide between health officials and business groups on whether or not the Ford government should allow cannabis lounges and cafes, and broaden the number of places pot can be sold.

CBC Toronto obtained the results of the government's consultation — conducted earlier this year before COVID-19 forced the province to declare a state of emergency — through a freedom of information request. You can read all 850 pages of feedback at the bottom of this story.

The province is considering two major changes to the current cannabis landscape:

If you’re a cannabis consumer on the West Coast, you’ve likely purchased an ‘eighth’ before. If you’re located in Ontario or the East Coast, you might call the same amount of cannabis a ‘half-quarter.’ But if you’re new to pot and you buy it through the government channels, you might call the same amount of cannabis something else entirely: 3.5 grams. 

In less than two years after the country legalized recreational cannabis, Canada has reached an important milestone. According to a report in BNN Bloomberg, the country's dispensary count crossed the 1,000 mark as of July 17, landing at 1,010.

Of all the country's provinces and territories, Alberta in the West has the highest number, at 494. No. 2 is the province where some of the highest-quality Canadian cannabis has traditionally come from, British Columbia (211 dispensaries).

Ontario's private cannabis stores will have to give up offering delivery and curbside pickup next week — and they're not happy about it.

The stores were allowed to start offering both services in April under a temporary emergency order the Ontario government issued during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the province is working on extending its state of emergency until July 24, orders that allowed delivery and curbside pickup won't continue.

"Thirty per cent of my business is curbside, so it certainly will impact us in a negative way," said Helene Vassos, the owner of two Canvas Cannabis stores in the Danforth and Mount Dennis neighbourhoods of Toronto.

Second Cup Ltd.'s parent company has opened its first recreational cannabis dispensary.

Mississauga, Ont.-based Aegis Brands says it welcomed guests to a Hemisphere Cannabis Co. location on Avenue Road in mid-town Toronto today.

The location was previously home to a Second Cup and will be joined by six more dispensaries Aegis has planned to open in Toronto, Orleans, Ont. and Ottawa in the coming months.

Second Cup said in 2018 that it has more than 130 locations across Ontario that it plans to leverage to enter the cannabis space.

Second Cup has undergone a series of restructurings in recent years to try to increase its profits in the competitive Canadian coffee industry and hopes cannabis will help it regain market share.

The COVID-19 outbreak has had a significant impact on the global economy and many countries are still dealing with major outbreaks.

The US is the epicenter of COVID and has the highest number of confirmed cases in the world. Unfortunately, the trend seems to be getting worse and we are closely following how the government handles the outbreak.

Although Canada is one of the countries that seems to have the COVID crisis under control, many companies are still being impacted by the virus. Canopy Growth Corporation (WEED.TO) (CGC) is a leading cannabis producer and it recently announced that an employee at its Ontario facility has tested positive for the virus.