HIGH MAN PROTESTS 24-HOUR SUSPENSION

(CNS) - A Port Moody man with multiple sclerosis is protesting a
24-hour road suspension issued to him last weekend for smoking
marijuana in a parked car.

Sepanta Salmassi, 23, was issued the suspension Saturday night and
his brother's BMW was towed from a parking lot in Coquitlam after an
RCMP officer found Salmassi in the car smoking a joint.

Salmassi, who was diagnosed with the degenerative disease three years
ago, has been granted a federal exemption from Health Canada to smoke
the drug for medicinal purposes.

Salmassi was sitting in the driver's seat of the car while two
friends waited outside to drive him home, he said. He was puffing
away when a Coquitlam RCMP officer showed up.

"He asked me if I had any needles. I said, 'Listen buddy, I'm not a
crackhead,'" he recalled.

Salmassi said he tried to explain to the officer that he had no
intention of operating the vehicle.

In the end, Salmassi had to pay $110 to get his brother's car back
from the tow yard, and is appalled he now has a 24-hour suspension on
his driving record.