The owner of Essex County’s first legal retail pot shop might not just be Canada’s youngest cannabis businessman but also the country’s first second-generation entrepreneur in what is a fairly new but expanding economic sector.

“My father was a co-founder of Aphria — we’ve been in this since the beginning,” said Anthony Cervini, the owner of Tony’s Joint in Essex, who only recently turned 22

John Cervini was one of the original principals behind Leamington-based Aphria Inc. Begun in 2014 and initially focused on the medical marijuana market, the pioneering firm has grown into one of the biggest multibillion-dollar cannabis companies in the world, with a globally expanding footprint.

“I worked at Aphria since 2014 — I think I have knowledge that some of my competition doesn’t have,” Anthony told the Star Wednesday. That early insider savvy includes knowing how strict and exacting the regulations and government oversights are in growing, handling and testing legal pot. “It’s not like the black market.”

Tony’s Joint, the first cannabis store in the Town of Essex, and located next to Service Ontario, is pictured, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020. PHOTO BY DAX MELMER /Windsor Star

Amherstburg and Essex each have one other application before the AGCO, and there are two pending applications in Leamington and one in Lakeshore. Town councils in LaSalle, Tecumseh and Kingsville have all, so far at least, prohibited such bricks-and-mortar commercial operations from being considered within their municipal boundaries.

Cervini, who is from Leamington, decided on locating his first business in the Town of Essex instead, due to its more central county location, as well as future business considerations.

As an industry insider, Cervini knew that licensed producers — like Aphria and a growing number of others expected in Leamington, which is emerging as a Canadian commercial pot growing centre — are legally permitted to establish retail outlets at the locations where they grow their product.

Locally, none have done so yet, but “I knew there will be too much competition (in Leamington),” said the owner of Tony’s Joint.

Interestingly, given the stigma that still prevails around the use of marijuana — the possession and use of which was a crime in Canada before Oct. 17, 2018 — both county pot shops are mere steps away from symbols of government authority. The Amherstburg Cannabis Company is across the street from town hall, and Tony’s Joint shares a shopping plaza with a busy ServiceOntario outlet.