TORONTO’S scandal-plagued mayor Rob Ford is taking a leave of absence to enter rehab, after a new video emerged allegedly showing him smoking crack days ago.
Mr Ford, 44, has admitted to binge drinking and smoking crack and he is campaigning for re-election on a give-me-another-chance platform.
The Globe and Mail published a screen grab from a video that it said its reporters had viewed, in which Ford is seen holding a metal pipe alleged to contain the addictive cocaine derivative.
In the full video, which the paper said was shot by a self-described drug dealer, the mayor of North America’s fourth-largest city is seen taking a hit from a copper-coloured pipe, exhaling a cloud of smoke and shaking his right hand frantically, the Globe and Mail said.
The dealer says the video was shot in the early hours of Saturday in the basement of the apartment building where Mr Ford’s sister Kathy lives.
Approached at City Hall yesterday, Mr Ford declined to respond to questions about the video, the paper said.
The newspaper said that the dealer was trying to sell the video “for at least six figures”. It said Mr Ford’s sister had also struggled with a drug problem.
Meanwhile, The Toronto Sun tabloid posted on its website audio of the mayor, apparently intoxicated, and captured in a bar on Tuesday.
Mr Ford can be heard swearing and lewdly commenting about several municipal and provincial politicians.
“I have a problem with alcohol, and the choices I have made while under the influence. I have struggled with this for some time,” Mr Ford said in a statement yesterday, the Star reported.
“Today, after taking some time to think about my own wellbeing, how to best serve the people of Toronto and what is in the best interests of my family, I have decided to take a leave from campaigning and from my duties as mayor to seek immediate help.”
Dennis Morris, a lawyer for Mr Ford said the mayor would attend a “facility that assists people with substance abuse difficulties”.
The mayor, mired in scandal for months after being accused of unseemly behaviour during a series of drunken rampages, has been stripped of most of his powers by Toronto city council.
The mayor burst into international headlines nearly a year ago when another alleged drug dealer tried to sell another video of him allegedly smoking crack to media outlets in Canada and the US.
Then, Mr Ford denied using the drug, but later acknowledged he had smoked crack cocaine in a “drunken stupor” but insisted he was not an addict.
Since then Mr Ford has been filmed numerous times in public appearing erratic and acting impaired.
He had admitted to drinking, but never to using drugs.
TORONTO’S scandal-plagued mayor Rob Ford is taking a leave of absence to enter rehab, after a new video emerged allegedly showing him smoking crack days ago.
Mr Ford, 44, has admitted to binge drinking and smoking crack and he is campaigning for re-election on a give-me-another-chance platform.
The Globe and Mail published a screen grab from a video that it said its reporters had viewed, in which Ford is seen holding a metal pipe alleged to contain the addictive cocaine derivative.
In the full video, which the paper said was shot by a self-described drug dealer, the mayor of North America’s fourth-largest city is seen taking a hit from a copper-coloured pipe, exhaling a cloud of smoke and shaking his right hand frantically, the Globe and Mail said.
The dealer says the video was shot in the early hours of Saturday in the basement of the apartment building where Mr Ford’s sister Kathy lives.
Approached at City Hall yesterday, Mr Ford declined to respond to questions about the video, the paper said.
The newspaper said that the dealer was trying to sell the video “for at least six figures”. It said Mr Ford’s sister had also struggled with a drug problem.
Meanwhile, The Toronto Sun tabloid posted on its website audio of the mayor, apparently intoxicated, and captured in a bar on Tuesday.
Mr Ford can be heard swearing and lewdly commenting about several municipal and provincial politicians.
“I have a problem with alcohol, and the choices I have made while under the influence. I have struggled with this for some time,” Mr Ford said in a statement yesterday, the Star reported.
“Today, after taking some time to think about my own wellbeing, how to best serve the people of Toronto and what is in the best interests of my family, I have decided to take a leave from campaigning and from my duties as mayor to seek immediate help.”
Dennis Morris, a lawyer for Mr Ford said the mayor would attend a “facility that assists people with substance abuse difficulties”.
The mayor, mired in scandal for months after being accused of unseemly behaviour during a series of drunken rampages, has been stripped of most of his powers by Toronto city council.
The mayor burst into international headlines nearly a year ago when another alleged drug dealer tried to sell another video of him allegedly smoking crack to media outlets in Canada and the US.
Then, Mr Ford denied using the drug, but later acknowledged he had smoked crack cocaine in a “drunken stupor” but insisted he was not an addict.
Since then Mr Ford has been filmed numerous times in public appearing erratic and acting impaired.
He had admitted to drinking, but never to using drugs.
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