Embattled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said he is taking a break from his re-election campaign to seek help for alcohol abuse -- hours after a local newspaper reported on a new video that allegedly shows him smoking crack cocaine.
"It's not easy to be
vulnerable and this is one of the most difficult times in my life," Ford
said in a statement Wednesday. "I have a problem with alcohol, and the
choices I have made while under the influence. I have struggled with
this for some time."
The statement, provided to CNN by Canada's CTV News, comes after the Toronto Globe and Mail reported on the new video.
In the video purportedly
filmed Saturday, the newspaper reports Ford is seen smoking what a drug
dealer described to the paper as crack cocaine from a copper-colored
pipe. Two Globe and Mail reporters viewed the video, and the publication
said it was shot in what appears to be Ford's sister's basement.
The paper said the substance in the pipe could not be confirmed.
The video is part "of a
package of three videos the dealer said was surreptitiously filmed
around 1:15 a.m., and which he says he is now selling for 'at least six
figures,'" the paper reported.
Leave is immediate
Shortly after the newspaper confronted the Mayor about the video, Ford announced he was taking a break to get help.
"Today, after taking some
time to think about my own well-being, 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," he said.
His lawyer, Dennis Morris, told CNN that Ford's leave begins immediately.
"He has to take a break to re-energize, because he realizes he has flaws that have to be addressed," Morris told CTV.
But Morris told the
Globe that he questioned the authenticity of the video, and said it is
hard to prove what the Mayor is smoking.
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