MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — Eight storefronts selling recreational marijuana opened in Montreal yesterday in a push to grab market share in cities across Canada — without waiting for promised legalisation next year.

Two more are planned for later this month in the nation’s second biggest metropolis, despite a vow by Mayor Denis Coderre to use “all of the city’s administrative tools to stop the illegal activity”.

The new franchise stores supplied by activist Marc Emery, Canada’s self-proclaimed “Prince of Pot”, come after grand openings of stores in Vancouver, Toronto and a dozen other Canadian cities.

The Cannabis Culture dispensary chain is Emery’s latest commercial venture tied to marijuana.

His past ventures included selling ganja seeds, which landed him in a US prison for five years.

The 58-year-old publisher of Cannabis Culture magazine, Emery has spent two decades advocating for the legalisation of cannabis.

Canada’s current ban on recreational marijuana possession and sale — which won’t be lifted until at least mid-2017 as the government must still draft legislation — is “absurd”, Emery said at the launch of the Montreal stores.

“It’s unjust. Lock me up if you will,” he said.

The Cannabis Culture locations in Montreal, which will bring to 22 the number of stores across Canada, will be open to adults over 19 years of age.

“We are proud to be demonstrating what legalization should look like, serving the Canadian consumers who have suffered persecution for so many decades,” Marc’s wife and business partner Jodie Emery said.

Several Cannabis Culture stores and competitors have been raided and shut down by police in the past year, only to defiantly reopen days later.

Marc Emery has campaigned for ganja legalisation as an activist, an entrepreneur who pioneered bong and other pot paraphernalia sales, and founder of the Marijuana Party of Canada.

His budding empire, however, came crashing down in 2010 when he pleaded guilty to a US charge of narcotics trafficking and was extradited to the United States, for selling marijuana seeds by mail order.

After serving his sentence, he returned to Canada.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last year campaigned on a platform that included legalising recreational use of marijuana.

An expert panel this week provided the government with a blueprint for legalising the weed.

It contained 80 recommendations, including maintaining a separate medical marijuana regime, as well as criminal penalties for trafficking and selling cannabis to youth.

The 106-page report also outlined regulations for creating a legal market for cannabis including plain packaging and labelling, restrictions on advertising, and retail distribution.

In settling on a minimum age of 18, the experts discounted warnings by health groups about the potential impact of marijuana on developing brains under the age of 25.

Ottawa has said it would unveil its legislation next year in the Canadian spring.